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HOW TO DEAL WITH DOUBTS 
AND DOUBTERS 



INDIVIDUAL WORK 
FOR INDIVIDUALS 

By H. Clay Trumbull, D.D. 

ONE of the most popular and helpful religious 
books of the day. Has received the high- 
est commendations from leading ministers 
and laymen and from the religious press. 

A PAPER EDITION 

has been issued the lower price of which permits 
its wide distribution by Pastors, Church Societies 
and Associations. Orders have been received for 
the book in lots of from fifty to ten thousand. 
The Presbyterian Evangelistic Committee has 
purchased more than thirteen thousand copies of 
the paper edition for distribution. 



Sixteen mo, 1 86 pages. Cloth, 75 cents ; 
paper, 35 cents. 



THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF 

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 

3 West 29th Street, New York 



HOW TO DEAL 
WITH DOUBTS 
AND DOUBTERS 

ACTUAL EXPERIENCES 
WITH TROUBLED SOULS 



BY 



m CLAY TRUMBULL 

Author of " Individual Work for Individ- 
uals," "Illustrative Answers to 
Prayer," etc. 



NEW YORK 

THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE 

OF YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN 

ASSOCIATIONS 

I903 



"b 



$> 






NOV I 



9UiS$ 






Copyright, 1903, 

By H. CLAY TRUMBULL. 

(November.) 



Untro&uctors 

Any one who is familiar with the work- 
ings of the human heart knows that more 
persons are ready to question or doubt 
than to rest and trust. And it is ever 
easier to strengthen the faith of one who 
enjoys firm confidence in God and in the 
eternal verities of the universe, than it is to 
remove the ever-changing doubts in a mind 
which gives way to them. Hence practical 
suggestions as to wise ways of dealing 
with doubts and doubters are likely to be 
helpful to one who would serve God and 
help perplexed souls. 

The following series of doubts expressed 
and doubts met is a result of actual experi- 
ences in heart-to-heart struggles in real 
life. While each chapter is not the literal 
record of a single doubter's words during 
a discussion with the narrator, all that is 
recorded of incident or of utterance is 
veritable fact. In some instances the sub- 
stance of several conversations is condensed 
into one ; and in some cases similar doubts 



Intto&uctotE 

by different doubters are here given as if 
they were the doubts of a single doubter. 
But all the doubts were actually expressed 
by a doubter to the narrator, and were met 
by him in the line of thought now re- 
corded. The result was in every case as 
here mentioned. 

This by no means covers all the instances 
of perplexity in doubt in the narrator's per- 
sonal experience. It is simply a series of 
actual experiences in dealing with doubts 
and doubters, where help was given by 
the methods here stated. If the methods 
given as successful should, by God's bless- 
ing, prove suggestive to other workers in 
similar fields, it will be an added cause of 
gratitude to 

H. CLAY TRUMBULL. 



Philadelphia, September n, ipoj. 



VI 



Contents 

i 

Considering Doubts Rather Than 

Beliefs 3 

II 
Seeking Help Inside of Self, not 

Outside 11 

III 
Not Ready to Give Up One's Will . . 21 

IV 

Waiting to be Good Enough to Join 

the Church 29 

V 

Waiting for Something Inside to 

" Break" 35 

VI 

Facing "the Unpardonable Sin" . . 43 

VII 

Waiting for More Faith 51 

vii 



Contents 

VIII 

Troubled Because Enjoying God's 

Service 61 

IX 

Considering Our Desires, Instead of 

God's Love 70 

X 

Is Lack of Right Feeling a Barrier 

to Right Action ? 83 

XI 

Troubled Because Finding No Enjoy- 
ment in Prayer 90 

XII 
Unable to Believe in Miracles ... 99 

XIII 

Not Believing in Any Spiritual 

Existence in 

XIV 
Inconsistency of Christian Doubters . 123 



Vlll 



HOW TO DEAL WITH DOUBTS 
AND DOUBTERS 



Considering Doubts IRatber 
TIban Beliefs 

A man has more power through believ- 
ing one thing than in disbelieving ten thou- 
sand things. It is a man's duty to disbelieve, 
or to doubt, at a proper time, when the mat- 
ter has been well considered ; but no man 
is capable of disbelieving, or of doubting, 
intelligently and sensibly, unless he first 
has strong and positive beliefs. A man's 
real power either to do or to doubt starts 
from his beliefs, and if a man gives atten- 
tion to what he does not believe, rather 
than to what he does believe, he makes no 
progress, and he lacks practical power in 
any direction. 

Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, 
who was a man of tremendous convictions, 
and who made thousands believe as he be- 
lieved because he had those convictions, 

3 



Mow to Steal witb 2>oubts 

said, just before the opening of the Civil 
War, of Abraham Lincoln, " I'm glad 
weVe got a man now who believes some- 
thing." And that was good ground for 
our hope in those days, as it is in any day. 
Yet to-day, on every side, there are young 
men and older men who think little about 
their beliefs, or about their convictions if 
they have any, and much of their disbeliefs 
and doubts and questionings. 

Such persons are not always proud that 
they are so ready to doubt and to ques- 
tion ; sometimes they regret the tendency 
of their minds to work in this direction, 
but it seems to them that they are helpless 
through the constitution and nature of their 
very being. Many of these persons feel the 
need of help, and sometimes ask it from 
others. What can be done for these per- 
sistent doubters ? How can those who dis- 
believe and question continually, concerning 
matters about which they would fain be at 
rest in their minds, be helped to a wise deal- 
ing with their mental and spiritual troubles ? 

4 



ConsiDering 2>oubts IRatber tban beliefs 

Very often one's best way of dealing 
with one's doubts is by letting them alone, 
and refusing to consider them just now. I 
heard Dr. Bushnell, in giving the charge to 
a keen-minded young pastor, say on this 
point: "If you have doubts that trouble 
you very much, do not try to solve them at 
once. Hang them up in your study for a 
while, and attend to things that you have 
no doubt about. By and by, when you 
have leisure, and feel so inclined, take your 
doubts down. Very likely you will find, 
when you attempt to examine them anew, 
that they have settled themselves." There 
was a world of wisdom in that bit of advice 
by Dr. Bushnell. 

One who had been brought up in com- 
parative strictness of belief reached a time 
when she began to question the truth of 
one doctrine and another that in her early 
life she had accepted as correct because 
others to whom she looked up said so. 
Dwelling on her new disbeliefs, she came 
to be practically controlled by them. In 

S 



Mow to Deal witb ©ou&ts 

her troubles of mind, she was telling me 
one day of certain views of truth that she 
could not now believe. At this I said to 
her : " You say a good deal of what you 
do not believe ; why don't you say some- 
thing of what you do believe, however 
little that is?" That was a fresh thought 
to her. She took it home, and acted on 
it. It proved a turning-point in her life. 
She began to consider what she did be- 
lieve, and to find comfort in the thought 
of this. Her disbelief vanished out of 
sight, as the darkness in a room vanishes 
when a window is opened to the light. 
She came to find pleasure in leading others 
to see and know the truth, and she often 
told me afterwards that her new start was 
taken when she began to think of what she 
did believe, instead of what she did not. 
In this she simply illustrated a truth that 
is always worth considering by one who 
would help, or be helped, in the perplexity 
of doubting. 

A young man who had been for years 

6 



Considering Doubts IRatber tban JSeliets 

active in Christian work and study, and 
whose desire and purpose were to be in the 
ministry, came to me at one time in North- 
field and told me his story, asking if there 
could be any cure in his case. He said that 
he had wrestled first with one doubt, and 
then with another, but his doubts had grown 
faster than his wrestlings, and he had lost 
ground steadily, until at last he had nothing 
left to be sure of except that there is a God. 
He positively was not sure of any truth in 
the Bible or Christianity except just that. 

At this I seemed not at all surprised, but 
simply asked : " What do you think of 
murder as a regular business?" 

"I don't understand your question," said 
the young man. 

"Why, the Bible teaches that murder is 
wrong. I want to know what you think of 
murder as a business, apart from the ques- 
tion of the statute law on the subject." 

"I have no doubt about the moral law 
laid down in the Bible," was the response 
of the young man. 

7 



ftlow to Steal witb 2>oubte 

" Then there's one thing in the Bible that 
you believe, outside of the truth that there 
is a God." 

Then I went on to ask one question after 
another as to some point of duty enjoined, 
or wrong act forbidden, in the Bible, to 
every one of which the young man said 
frankly that he had no doubt as to that 
point. He believed that the Bible teach- 
ings were to be believed so far. 

" Do not think, my friend, from my un- 
expected questions, that I lack sympathy 
with you in your troubles of mind," I said 
to the young man; "but you told me, to 
begin with, that you had no sure belief ex- 
cept that there is a God, and now at my 
questions you have told me that you have 
a firm belief as to a good many other 
things. Now I want to interrupt this con- 
versation just here for twenty-four hours. 
Go to your room, and take up the Bible. 
Turn over its pages, and when you see a 
statement that you believe, make a note of 
it. If you find anything that you do not 

8 



Considering 2>oubte 'Ratber tban beliefs 

believe, or that you doubt, pass it by, — pay 
no attention to that for now. I want you 
to look for things in the Bible that you be- 
lieve, and to count them up as a whole 
when you have done with the examination. 
Keep your mind entirely on what you are 
sure of, and then see, when you are through 
with the search, whether it really amounts 
to anything worth holding on to. Come 
back to-morrow, and tell me the result of 
your search. ,, 

The next day I watched for the young 
man, but he did not call. The day follow- 
ing, I met him on the street, and asked 
him why he had not returned to continue 
the conversation. There was a new look 
on his face as he replied : 

" I went home that night, and began to 
look in the Bible for things that I believe. 
I found more of them than I thought for. 
I kept finding them. As you requested, I 
didn't stop to consider anything that I had 
a doubt about, so that I don't know from 
this search what there is in that line ; but I 

9 



Mow to Deal witb Doubts 

find so much that I do believe that IVe 
come to the conclusion that I believe pretty 
much everything now." 

And there was one more soul made 
newly glad, changed from gloom to cheer, 
from doubt to confidence, through God's 
blessing, by his simply looking at what 
can be believed, instead of what may have 
been doubted. That is the way for such a 
doubter to deal with his troubles of mind. 
If one would give help to a doubting 
Christian of this sort, let him bear this 
in mind. 



io 



II 

Seefttng Melp Unsf&e of Self, 
not ©utsf&e 

It really is strange how many seek relief 
from their doubts, and help in their mental 
and spiritual unrest, by looking within in- 
stead of looking without. It would seem 
as if some actually expected to find a 
Saviour, or at all events to find evidences 
of their salvation, by an examination of 
their inner state of mind and being, and in 
the play of their personal feelings. This 
foolish custom was far more common a 
century ago than it is to-day; yet there 
are still many who do themselves harm, 
while they get absolutely no good, by in- 
dulging in this pernicious and unscriptural 
endeavor. 

In my own case, I suffered much by such 
hopeless and injurious efforts to gain some 
evidence from my emotions or my con- 

ii 



tflow to Steal witb Doubts 

scious course of conduct, that I was truly 
a child of God, and might trust as such. 
The more I studied myself, the more I was 
dissatisfied with myself. Again and again 
I heard it said, or I read the statement in 
books of religious counsel, that the way to 
be rid of doubts about one's spiritual con- 
dition was to be actively at work for Christ. 
Yet I knew that that was no prescription 
for my case. I was engaged in specific 
Christian work seven days in the week, 
and the more I did of such work the less 
spiritual comfort I had. I was a constant 
sufferer in my habit of searching my in- 
most being for evidences of my Christian 
fidelity that were not to be found there. 

Some told me that I should carefully 
examine myself, and decide what I would 
do in a test case, as showing whether I 
was a child of God, or one of God's ene- 
mies. This experiment I tried again and 
again, but I had to admit to myself that I 
was really seeking personal comfort or gain 
in this effort, and not putting God's glory 

12 



Seefttns Welp Insi&e of Self, not ©utsiDe 

foremost, regardless of my feelings or in- 
terest. I really gained nothing, while I lost 
strength and rest and peace, in my desire 
to find a hope of salvation within myself. 
As the years passed on in this mistaken 
and useless search, I had less and less en- 
joyment in Christian activities, in which I 
still persevered, and I suffered more and 
more keenly in my self-reproaches because 
of my lack of hope and of spiritual repose. 

This was after years of Christian work 
in my army chaplaincy and in my Sunday- 
school missionary work. In a sense, the 
more I did the worse I felt My ex- 
haustion in and through my well-doing 
incapacitated me for calm and sensible 
self-examination. Often, after several ser- 
vices on the Lord's Day, I have actually 
agonized for hours on my room floor, 
vainly seeking spiritual rest by means of 
internal evidence that I was a child of God. 

One day I said despondently to a ma- 
ture Christian believer, whom I had known 
from boyhood : 

13 



Mow to Deal witb S>oubts 

"I wish I could have some rest in my 
Christian faith." 

" Why shouldn't you have ? You know 
that you are a Christian, and that Christ 
takes care of you all the time, and for 
all time," said my friend. 

" No, I don't know that I am a Chris- 
tian," I replied, " and that's the trouble." 

" You know that you want to be a Chris- 
tian, and that if the choice were left to you, 
and you understood it, you'd decide for 
Christ's service." 

" No, I can't say that I do know that," 
I replied, despondently. 

My friend, seeing my real condition, 
caught hold of me, and said sharply : 

" Stop that analyzing of your insides, 
and look up. Turn away from yourself, 
and look at your Saviour." 

That blunt putting of the truth was a 
turning-point in my mind and in my spirit- 
ual life. I had long enough sought help 
inside without gaining it. Now I looked 
up where it could be found, and my being 



Seeking IKelp tneibe of Self, not ©utet&e 

was at rest. From that day on to the 
present I could never be induced to ex- 
amine myself for evidences of salvation. 
I have looked up for help, and I have 
urged others to do likewise. 

One day there came to me a student, 
brought up under Christian influences, and 
said to me : 

" I am troubled all the time because I 
can't be sure that I'm a Christian." 

Perceiving his condition of mind, I re- 
sponded : 

" Why should you be a Christian ? " 

" Why should I be a Christian ? I don't 
know what you mean by such a question." 

" Is there any command in the Bible for 
you to be a Christian ? I don't remember 
any such. Is there any promise of salva- 
tion to Christians ? Are you sure that you 
could be saved if you were a Christian ? " 

" You bewilder me," said the doubter. 

" I want you, my friend, to look squarely 
at the important matter you came here to 

15 



IHow to 5>eal witb Doubts 

talk about. Whom did Jesus Christ come 
into this world to save ? " 

" Sinners." 

" Kx^ you a sinner ? " 

" Yes," came out heartily, " I've no doubt 
about that." 

"You are not deceiving yourself now 
with a false hope, my friend ? " 

" I think not," and a feeble smile played 
over the doubter's face. " I think I can 
feel sure on that point, whatever other 
doubt I have." 

" Well, now, my friend, you see for your- 
self how the case stands. Jesus Christ came 
into this world to save sinners. You are 
one of that sort ; Pm another. You say 
that you can't satisfy yourself that you are 
a Christian. I was in the same fix for years. 
But you do know that you are a sinner. / 
also felt sure on that point. So I came as 
a sinner to trust Christ as a Saviour. I ad- 
vise you to do the same, leaving out of 
mind for a century or so the matter of be- 
ing sure of being a Christian. Let us trust 

16 



Seeking Help InslDe of Self, not ©utstDe 

the Saviour of sinners as our Saviour, and 
let us find joy in working for him." 

And another troubled doubter became 
a cheerful, trustful, saved sinner, by being 
helped to look outside of himself, instead of 
inside. He was for years active in leading 
others, in the home field and in the foreign 
field, to trust the Saviour of sinners as their 
Saviour. 

Christ is above us ; let us look to him. 
That is the direction in which to look, in 
order to get rest and peace. It is so for 
those who are troubled with doubts. It is 
so for those who are ready to trust. This 
is a thought for all who would give help 
to such doubters, and who would lead to 
rest and peace troubled and anxious souls. 

It is so with all who are looking within 
for evidences of their acceptance with 
Christ. Christ, not the sinner, is the evi- 
dence. One who has once learned this 
lesson is not willing again to leave the sure 
reality for any fancied substitute. One who 

17 



Wow to Deal witb Doubts 

was mistakenly trying to induce doubters 
to be satisfied as to their condition by self- 
examination told, in my hearing, the follow- 
ing illustration used by Theodore Monod, 
of Geneva, that the speaker thought might 
help another. 

"You find in your heart evils, defects, 
imperfections, and you feel that that heart 
is not worthy of being counted precious by 
Jesus Christ. But even a diamond, when 
it is first taken by the lapidary, is often 
rough and soiled and hidden from sight by 
foul accumulations; yet it is a diamond, 
nevertheless. Then the lapidary cleanses 
and cuts and finishes the rough diamond, 
and makes it fit to be set in the crown of 
a sovereign. Thus with your rough and 
defiled and uncut jewel of a soul. It is a 
diamond, and it is to shine in the diadem 
of the King of kings. Be sure of that." 

As I had suffered for years in looking 
inside for evidences of salvation, or of my 
worthiness, I responded heartily to this 
illustration : 

18 



Seefcins Welp UnstDe of Self, not ©utst&e 

" I've all confidence in the Lapidary, but 
no confidence in the uncut stone, so far as 
my case is concerned. I never found any 
rough diamond inside of me. But I am 
told that, chemically, charcoal and the dia- 
mond dust have much in common. Now, 
when I look inside of myself, I see the char- 
coal. So I say to the great Lapidary : * I 
bring you this charcoal, and I trust you to 
transmute it, by your almighty power, into 
a diamond. Then, in infinite love, place 
that diamond in your diadem, and to thee 
be all the glory/ " 

When I said this, a fellow-believer who 
had been troubled with doubts as to his 
spiritual condition through his habit of 
looking inside for grounds of hope, instead 
of looking above for assurance of a Saviour, 
seemed touched by this view of the ground 
of hope, which was fresh to him. Speaking 
out heartily and with new hope, he said : 

" I can find charcoal inside of me every 
time. There's no lack of that comfort 
for me." 

19 



Mow to Deal witb Doubts 

And he turned his thought from the 
material to be transmuted to the all-power- 
ful Lapidary. I then realized afresh that 
the way for a sinner to find hope is by 
looking up to the Saviour of such sinners 
as himself. Is there any better way than 
this to deal with doubts on such a point ? 



20 



Ill 
Jtlot IReafcs to Give lap ©ne's TKatU 

A friend called on me one day, desiring 
to secure my aid in reaching spiritually a 
man whose condition seemed sadly in- 
volved, if not, indeed, desperate. The man 
in behalf of whom counsel and help were 
sought had been prominent and efficient in 
a large and prosperous business enterprise ; 
but he had, by failing health, been for some 
time confined to his home. While thus shut 
in, his business, of which he was chief man- 
ager, had become hopelessly involved, and 
bankruptcy stared him in the face. Mean- 
time his physician informed the man's wife, 
although not communicating the fact to 
him, that he was not likely to recover from 
his present illness. In heaviness of heart, 
she had sent the mutual friend to implore 
my effort to bring her husband nearer to 
her Saviour. While upright in character 

21 



Wow to 2>eal wttb Doubte 

and reverent in spirit, the sick man was 
averse to conversation on the subject of 
personal religion, and even in his illness 
had declined to have his wife send for a 
clergyman. 

Although I had well known the man in 
former years in another place, I had never 
visited him in his present home, and it 
would be a delicate matter to make the 
first visit for the avowed purpose of reach- 
ing spiritually one in such trouble. Yet 
the request was an earnest one, and I could 
not refuse to respond to it. Imploring 
God to prepare the way for the interview, 
and to guide in it, I called at the sick man's 
house one Sunday afternoon. By God's 
ordering I could not see him then, as he 
was asleep when I called. So, seeing his 
wife, I left an old friend's love for her hus- 
band, and came away. 

On learning of this call when he awoke, 
the man regretted his failure to see his old 
friend, and sent word desiring me to call 
again. On my second call, I had the ad- 

22 



Hot IReafcE to ©ire lap ©ne's TUBill 

vantage of coming at the sick man's re- 
quest, and the interview was a natural and 
free one. The man told of his misfortunes 
and regrets. As he spoke, I said naturally 
that he certainly needed in his troubles, 
and I hoped he could have, his Saviour's 
sustaining presence. At this he spoke 
with some bitterness of his hopeless help- 
lessness, and he then indicated his realest 
source of doubts. He was a man of diminu- 
tive appearance, but of intensest energy and 
enterprise. Unaided, he had fought his 
way up to success, in spite of many diffi- 
culties and obstacles. 

" I know what you would say to me," 
he said. "All I have got to do is to give 
up my own will, and trust myself to the 
Saviour to take care of me. ' Give up my 
will ? * But all there is of me is will. I 
started life a poor, sick boy, with nothing 
but will. My will kept me alive. By my 
will, I worked my way to success. By my 
will, I built up a great business, and had 
prosperity and a good home. By my will, 

23 



Wow to Deal wftb Doubts 

I supported my parents, and helped others 
to do well. But sickness came, and, while 
sick, my business broke down, and all I 
have in the world is likely to be swept 
away. Everything is gone but my will. 
And now you ask me to give up that. 
You don't know what it is you would be 
counseling. Everything else but my will 
is gone, and now you ask me to give up 
that. What would be left of me if that 
were gone ? " 

" But I have not advised you to give up 
your will," I replied. "You need a stronger 
will, not an abandonment of all that now 
remains of you. Your own will, strong as 
it is, with its present hold, could not keep 
you from sickness, could not continue suc- 
cess to you in your business. You need 
more will, not less. Wouldn't a touch of 
Omnipotence help you, in your present 
state? I think that if you, with your 
strong will, will lay hold on One who is 
all-powerful, and who can do even those 
things which you confess you are unable 

24 



Hot IReaDE to ©tve Tap ©ne's Mill 

to do even when you long to do them, 
you will be using your will in the right 
direction, and will have more will and a 
better will than ever." 

This was to him a new way of looking 
at will. He who had ever wanted to use 
his will aright, in response to the question 
whether he would like me to pray with 
him that he could lay hold with a strong 
grip on the All-Sufficient Will, said that 
he most surely would. And as I kneeled, 
on that first visit in that sick-chamber, and 
prayed with and for that sick man, who 
had no idea of his wasting illness, I was 
sure that my old friend was finding joy in 
the thought that his will could, in Christ, 
keep him through all trial and sorrow, 
through life and through death, giving him 
final success in God's way. And from that 
hour it was apparent that he was grateful 
that God had chosen this way to lead him 
to a right understanding of the gain of a 
strong will properly directed. 

The following months, when I went 
25 



IHow to Deal witb Doubts 

every few days to cheer that new believer's 
heart and to strengthen my own grateful 
faith by Christian counsel with that glad 
saint as he was ripening for glory, I found 
that talk about his will had given place to 
loving words about his Saviour. Rarely is 
one to be met who has fuller joy and peace 
in Christ than had this man who had 
feared the barrier of his determined will. 
He had long lived a life of purity in duty- 
doing in God's service, but he had been mis- 
taught as to what was required of him if he 
would be one with Christ. He had con- 
founded his determined purpose in what- 
ever he had to do, with wrong self-seeking. 
When he saw the light, he turned to it, and 
rejoiced in it. He seemed to have forgotten 
that he had any troubles. 

He spoke only of the bright side of his 
present or his future. When he realized 
that he had not long to live, he was ready 
to see better things in prospect than he had 
ever ventured to hope for. His grateful 
and glad-hearted wife found cheer and 

26 



Hot IReafcE to ®ive Tap ®ne's "501111 

gave him cheer as they communed to- 
gether of their Saviour's love and constant 
presence. Each day seemed brighter than 
any that had gone before. As to his will, 
he did not have to give it up, but only to 
lift it up. 

Fresh trials came to him as he lay help- 
less in that invalid-chamber, which proved 
to be his death-chamber; but he had now 
strength and faith to bear them all. His 
aged mother, whom he had for years sup- 
ported, was stricken with a fatal disease. 
The knowledge of this was kept from him, 
lest he should be unable to bear it. But 
when she was dead, they were compelled 
to tell him of it. He received the intelli- 
gence with joyous faith. He said pleas- 
antly : 

" It will not be long before we shall be 
together again." 

It was evident that life with Christ was 
already more real and precious to him than 
this earthly life. His will was still un- 
broken, but it was now wisely directed. 

27 



IHow to Deal witb Doubts 

And when at last he bade me farewell as 
he entered peacefully into rest, he seemed 
glad of the lesson he had freshly learned, 
that one who wants to do his duty needs 
not to have less will, or determination, but 
to have his strongest will, or purpose, 
rightly directed toward his loving and all- 
sufficient Saviour. Thus directed, the 
more will a man has, the better it is for 
him in God's service. 



28 



IV 

TKHattfng to be <Soo& JEnouob to 
Join tbe Cburcb 

Among the mistaken ideas in the com- 
munity as to the significance of the act of 
connecting one's self with a Christian 
church, is the thought that it indicates that 
one has made progress in character and well 
doing, and desires to testify to that fact 
before his fellows. Underneath this error 
there is, of course, a mistaken view of the 
nature and object of the church itself, but 
how to correct this mistaken view must be 
decided differently in different cases. 

When I had for some time been absent 
from my old home, I found, on returning 
to it, that a near neighbor of mine had just 
connected himself with the church. Glad 
to learn this fact, I went to that neighbor, 
and said to him heartily : 

" I'm very glad to know that you have 
29 



Wow to Seal witb Boubts 

taken the step of connecting yourself with 
the church, and I want to congratulate you 
on it" 

To my surprise the new communicant 
said, with a show of modesty, and yet with 
a somewhat confident air : 

"Well, I thought the matter over for 
some time before taking that step. I 
know I'm not so good as I might be, but 
I'm better than the average, so I decided 
to join the church." 

At this I thought it not best to say any- 
thing more in the line of congratulation. 
Nor did I think that the church was to be 
particularly congratulated on its new mem- 
ber. Later on I found that other men than 
that neighbor had that standard of fitness 
for church-membership. Some are modest 
in their doubting, honestly thinking them- 
selves unworthy to be counted with the 
Christian host. Others desire to live as 
well as they can outside of the church fold 
without being judged by church standards 
of conduct. Yet others again, like the per- 

30 



Wafting to be 0ooD JCnougb 

son instanced, have only a doubt as to their 
relative goodness, and settle it by them- 
selves in a self-confident mood. 

A church-goer, who desired to be right 
and to do right, when urged to connect 
himself with the church, expressed the fear 
that he was not good enough. This seem- 
ingly was his sincere feeling. For years he 
waited outside in the hope that he would 
grow better. Appeals from his friends for 
another course were of no avail. Then he 
was taken seriously ill, and he was brought 
to face death. As he prayed for recovery, 
and as he was prayed for, he seemed to 
have a different view of Christ ; and when 
he was restored to health, he was glad to 
think of his Saviour as one to whom he 
ought to show gratitude. When his pastor 
urged him to come into the church, as one 
who desired to evidence his thankfulness 
and trust, he came forward as a loving, 
trusting follower of Christ. It were better 
to come just as he was, he thought, than to 
wait outside indefinitely to grow better. 

3i 



Mow to Deal witb 5>oubt6 

A man of upright walk in life persistently 
refrained from connecting himself with the 
church, claiming that he loved and trusted 
Christ as his Saviour, and that he would 
^how to the world that he was doing this 
without being a member of any church. 
At this I said to him : 

" Do you expect Christ to save you ? " 

"Assuredly I do." 

" Yet you persist in refusing to confess 
Christ before men, as he has particularly 
enjoined it upon you to do. Is that fair ? 
Jesus says, ' Every one therefore who shall 
confess me before men, him will I also con- 
fess before my Father who is in heaven.' 
Yet you say that you are not willing to be 
with those who confess Christ before men." 

" Oh ! I am ready to be known as a 
lover of Christ, but I don't want to be in 
the church where men claim to be better 
than other men. I will try to be as good 
as they are without saying so." 

" You apparently mistake the idea of 
Christ's church, to begin with," I said. 

32 



TKHaiting to be Good JEnougb 

"The church is not an exhibition hall, 
where good men and women show them- 
selves. The church is a hospital where 
are those who need and want to be saved 
by Christ. Yet, as I understand you, you 
are unwilling to be counted as one who 
needs the hospital or the Great Physician, 
but you want to stand off outside and 
prove that you can cure yourself. Is that 
making an honest show ? " 

" I don't want to have it look that way." 
" I shouldn't think you would." 
So another man concluded to join the 
church, not because he thought he was as 
good as the average, but because he 
felt he needed hospital treatment as much 
as the average church-member. 

It is important for every person who is 
in the church to bear in mind this truth as 
to the nature and mission of the church. 
It is not as an exhibition hall, but as a 
hospital, that it calls for members and that 
members continue in it. No man has 
made such progress in the Christian life 

33 



Mow to Deal wttb Soubts 

that he no longer needs the helps that the 
church supplies to him. The more prog- 
ress one makes the more he desires prog- 
ress. If he feels that he is good enough 
to be a church-member, he gives evidence 
that he has no right view of the church of 
Christ, or of right life in Christ. 



34 



TKIlafting for Sometbing Unstoe 
to "Break" 

A barrier to the conscious service of 
Christ is, with many souls, the fear that 
a desired and necessary change in their 
inner being has not taken place. This 
fear is commonly caused by a sad error 
on their part, resulting from the wrong 
preaching and teaching to which they 
have listened, or from their misreading 
of the Bible as improperly translated, 
or as incorrectly understood. But what- 
ever has caused it, the barrier, real or 
supposed, often exists, and it must be 
met and wisely dealt with. 

As illustrative of a multitude of similar 
cases, a single instance may be cited out 
of my sphere of observation. A promi- 
nent man in a New England community 
had been brought up under the best re- 

3S 



Wow to Deal witb Boubte 

ligious influences then prevalent in that 
region. He had from boyhood been ac- 
customed to read the Bible and pray day 
by day. He was regular in church attend- 
ance. He was careful and strict in his 
morals. But all this was, as he had been 
taught, of the outer man ; it did not touch 
or indicate the inner life or spiritual being. 
He had been taught from the pulpit and 
by the religious literature of the day, that 
until he had been converted, or regenerated, 
he would have no right to count himself 
an accepted child of God. And for this 
change, which he had no power to com- 
pass, he waited and hoped and prayed. 

When he grew up and married he was 
ready to do anything and everything in 
his own power to show his readiness and 
desire to be Christ's, but for the essential 
change of spiritual nature he felt he must 
wait God's time and act. He was faithful 
in personal and household worship. He 
conducted family prayers regularly. He 
asked a blessing at his table. He taught 

36 



TKHattina for Something Inst&e to " JSteaft 



t» 



a class of young men in the Sunday-school. 
But he felt he had no right to count him- 
self a converted, a regenerated, a new-born, 
soul. All that he could do in God's ser- 
vice he was ready to do, but conversion, or 
regeneration, was God's work. For that 
he must wait God's time and method. 
More than half a century passed away, 
leaving him as it found him so far as this 
was concerned. 

His children, brought up under these in- 
fluences, were led by their Sunday-school 
teachers and companions to confess Christ 
as their Saviour, and they became active as 
teachers and as church workers. But the 
good and sad-hearted man remained out- 
side the recognized fold of Christ. This 
was so to the last of his earthly life. It 
was doubtless a blessed surprise to him 
when he was welcomed by his Saviour as 
one of his loved ones, when his spirit-eyes 
were opened beyond the veil of flesh. Yet 
that good man was only one of multitudes 
who have lived and died in Christ's service 

37 



Wow to 2)eal wftb 2>oubt0 

thinking that they had no right to trust 
Christ as their Saviour because some mys- 
terious change, which they could neither 
understand nor secure, had not been 
wrought in them. What a realm of doubt 
and of doubters is opened before us by 
such an illustration ! 

Years after this, which was my first ac- 
quaintance with one of the " outside saints," 
— kept outside by the barrier of doubt raised 
by mistaken teaching, — I was brought 
into close association with another doubter 
of the sort, who was even more positive, 
although less intelligent, than the other, 
on the subject. The son of a godly and 
strict father, whose views in the line of a 
certain phase of old-fashioned orthodoxy 
were pronounced and outspoken as to 
man's inability of himself to turn to God, 
was near me socially, and sat near me in 
church. In him I became much inter- 
ested, and I sought to lead him to an open 
confession in Christ's service. But I found 
that the young doubter was positive as to 

38 



TRttatttnQ for Something InstDe to " 38reafc M 

his right or power to act until God made 
him willing and able. In response to the 
most tender and earnest invitation, he said : 

" I wish I could trust Christ as my 
Saviour, but I know it isn't possible until 
my heart is changed." 

" But have you nothing to do in the 
matter ? " 

" My part is to wait and be ready. I 
come to church and prayer-meeting regu- 
larly. God knows how I feel about it, but 
until he converts me I cannot be a Chris- 
tian. I cannot convert myself. So there 
it is." 

That erroneous view was a barrier ot 
doubt. My words, with my knowledge 
and experience of them, unfortunately did 
not move it or him. 

In another case, one with whom I 
prayed was helped to imagine that he 
had evidence that God helped him over 
that barrier, and his fancy was suggestive 
as showing the working of many a man's 
mind. He was a man who had been a 

39 



Wow to 2>eat witb Bou&ts 

soldier in my regiment in the Civil War. 
After the war, when I was preaching on a 
Sunday evening in the pulpit of a friend, 
in Massachusetts, I saw this man before 
me. At the close of the service the man 
came up to greet me, and I invited him 
to go with me to the pastor's house for a 
talk. He came, and we were soon to- 
gether in a room by ourselves. After a 
few words over old experiences, a conver- 
sation somewhat like this ensued : 

" Have you ever confessed Christ as 
your Saviour ? " 

" No, I have not ; but I wish I could." 

"Are you ready to give yourself to 
Christ with all your heart ? " 

" Indeed I am. But I suppose I must 
be converted." 

" God will take care of that, if you will 
commit yourself to him without keeping 
anything back." 

The man had been a good soldier in war 
time, and he knew what enlisting meant. 

" Are you ready to enlist in Christ's ser- 
40 



XBfflaftins for Something Ineibe to "SSreaft 



t> 



vice here and now, not merely for three 
years, but for all time?" 

" I am, and I'd like to." 

Then we two dropped on our knees 
together, and I told the Lord that here 
was a new recruit who wanted to be under 
Christ's flag, and in the Saviour's service. 
I asked the Lord to accept him and to help 
him to be true. 

As we rose from our knees, the hearer 
of the evening, with the light of joy in his 
face, exclaimed jubilantly: 

" Chaplain, it's all right now. I'm sure 
it is. When you prayed there, I felt some- 
thing sort o' break inside of me. I think I 
needn't have any doubt any more." 

I knew the soldier spirit of my old com- 
rade. He was loyal and patriotic. He was 
glad to enlist, but he thought that God 
had a special work to do, for which he had 
waited. And now he was encouraged to 
believe that, as we prayed, a sign of 
God's willingness to accept the recruit had 
been given. This he called the feeling 

4i 



Mow to Deal witb Doubts 

that something inside " sort o' broke." The 
way of duty and of faith was plain thence- 
forth to him. 

The command " Be converted " was an 
improper translation in our old Bibles. 
The phrase is correctly rendered, in the 
Revision, "turn/' or "turn again." Turn- 
ing toward God is a simple duty whenever 
one is on the wrong track, however often 
he needs to turn. Theological errors of 
generations cannot always be removed by 
formal discussion with an anxious soul, 
but that soul may be led to see that God 
is now ready to take him just as he is, 
and that God will cause to " sort o' break " 
whatever inner bond had held back the 
willing soul. 



42 



VI 

facing " tbe xanpatftonable Sin " 

If there is one mental trouble above 
another that seems to call for sympathy 
and tenderness of treatment, it is the fear 
that one has committed "the unpardonable 
sin," and now stands facing hopelessly the 
eternal consequences of this wrong-doing. 
Nor is this fear an utterly exceptional one. 
Many a sensitive conscience has suffered 
from it for years. It is worth serious 
thought on the part of all those who 
would help souls. 

Several conversations which I had with 
one of these troubled souls illustrates one 
phase of this difficulty, and a way of 
meeting it. A young man who was ac- 
tive in Christian work, and who was a 
confessed follower of Christ, had puzzled 
over the words of our Lord that blasphemy 
against the Holy Spirit could not be for- 

43 



Wow to 2>eal wttb 5>oubts 

given (see Matt. 12 : 31-37). Thinking 
over the subject persistently, he had come 
to fear that he had committed that sin, and 
he was oppressed accordingly. 

"As I read the Bible," he said, "' Who- 
soever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, 
it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this 
world, nor in that which is to come/ Now 
I fear that I have, at some time, spoken in 
that way. If I have, there is no hope 
for me." 

" Did you do this deliberately, and with 
a purpose of doing it ? Or did you merely 
do it triflingly and irreverently ? " 

" It is the thing itself that is spoken of 
by our Lord, without reference to the inner 
spirit of the speaker." 

" Have you regretted your thoughtless 
and irreverent evil speech ? " 

"Yes, indeed I have, many and many 
times. But that doesn't make any differ- 
ence in the case of a sin that will not be 
forgiven in this world or the next, in spite 
of our repentings." 

44 



Jfacfng *' tbe TUnparDonable Sin 



tt 



" Does it seem like a loving God, to 
be watching for one slip of the tongue, 
or one thoughtless or irreverent word, 
and then to refuse to forgive that wrong, 
however penitent or humble the wrong- 
doer finally is ? God sent Jesus into this 
world to show his love for sinners, and 
Jesus 'is able to save to the uttermost 
them that draw near unto God through 
him, seeing he ever liveth to make in- 
tercession for them ' (see Heb. 7 : 25). 
Is your view consistent with the Bible 
teachings about the never-failing love of 
God?" 

" I shouldn't think so if it were not for 
those words of Jesus about this one sin as 
different from all other sins. But there his 
words stand, and I'm fearfully troubled be- 
cause of them. ,, 

" Well, now, my friend, don't you mis- 
read those words as they were spoken and 
as the record of them stands ? When did 
Jesus speak those words ? and to whom ? 
and under what circumstances? They 

45 



IKow to Deal wttb Boubts 

are too important to be perverted and 
misused. Have a care, therefore, on that 
point. Read over more carefully the pas- 
sage in Matthew's Gospel, and see what 
the words mean. Jesus was working won- 
ders of grace. He was showing the love 
of the Father and the power of the Holy- 
Spirit. He was opposing Satan and his 
works. Then those who opposed Jesus 
said that he and his disciples were repre- 
sentatives of Satan. At this, Jesus sug- 
gested that one who counted the Holy 
Spirit and Satan one and the same, was in 
a hopeless state; God could do nothing 
more for such a man. If one who sees 
God's work and Satan's work says that 
there is no difference between the two, 
God is powerless in that man's behalf. 
God has nothing better than the Holy 
Spirit's work to show to a man in this 
world or the next. My friend, can you 
see nothing better in the Holy Spirit's 
work than in the work of Satan ? " 

" Indeed, I can see a great deal that is 
46 



jfacfng "tbe IHnparDonablc Sin" 

better. There is no comparison to be 
made between the two. One is all good ; 
the other is all bad." 

" Then you have no doubt as to where 
you would stand on that issue ? " 

" Of course I do not" 

" If, therefore, the unpardonable sin is 
being on the side of Satan against the 
Holy Spirit, as the great issue in the con- 
test, in this world or in the next, you 
would feel that you were on the right side 
and in the right state, — would you ? " 

"Yes, I would, as you state the case. 
But I have not been looking at it in that 
way. I have not read the words of Jesus 
in this way before. ,, 

"Well, that is the way that I read those 
words, as they were spoken according to 
the Bible record. I find a meaning in 
them consistent with the spirit of Jesus, 
with the general teachings of Scripture, 
with the peculiar circumstances of their 
utterance, with the lessons of sound 
reason, and with the very letter of the 

47 



Mow to Deal witb Doubts 

text. On the other hand, you find a mean- 
ing in the words as you read them that is, 
as you admit, not consistent with what you 
have known of the love of the Father, with 
the spirit of Jesus, or with the known 
workings of the Holy Spirit. Which of 
these two methods is to be preferred? 
Tell me frankly. ,, 

"Your view, I admit, does seem the 
most reasonable." 

" We may always be sure that a positive 
command or threat of God is based on a 
principle prevalent throughout all God's 
domain. It is never a mere specific of- 
fense or transgression that he refers to as 
cutting one off from hope, but rather an 
attitude of being, which would be the same 
in this life and beyond. Thus it is in this 
instance. But, tell me, did it ever trouble 
you to think that the sin you had com- 
mitted had shut you out from God's love 
and presence ? " 

" It has caused me agony unspeakable. 
I have mourned over it, and prayed about 

48 



ffactns "tbe Iflnparfconabie Sin" 

it day and night; and oh, how I have 
longed for help! " 

" That is in itself proof that you have not 
committed the unpardonable sin. Jesus 
speaks of that sin as putting its doer in a 
hopelessly hostile attitude toward God. 
If you had committed that sin, or were in 
that attitude of being, you would not want 
to be forgiven or loved of God. No, no, 
my friend, you have sins enough that can 
be forgiven, which you ought to think 
about and strive to overcome, without 
worrying over the unpardonable sin which 
you do not comprehend, and which you 
evidently have not committed." 

And that long-troubled soul was led 
into the light, and found peace and rest 
in the assured love of God. May every 
soul similarly perplexed have like rest and 
peace ! 

He had been worrying over a sin which 
he had not committed; but which if he 
had committed, he would have ceased to 
worry about. So, in fact, his very worrying 

49 



Wow to Deal witb Doubts 

was proof that he had no cause for worry. 
How Satan gives trouble to those who 
are his determined enemies, leaving alone 
those of whom he is already sure ! 



So 



VII 

TKHaiting for flilore JFattb 

That faith is essential to spiritual life, no 
one can doubt who reads intelligently the 
Old Testament or the New. Abraham had 
faith, and that faith was reckoned to him 
for righteousness, — for a right state before 
God. Inspired prophets tell us that the 
just, the righteous, are to live by their faith, 
by their restful trust in God. Hardly any 
single injunction is more frequently ex- 
pressed by the Saviour of men, to those 
who desire his help, than the command to 
" have faith in God." It is their faith that 
Jesus insists on. It is on their faith that his 
help depends. It is by means of their faith 
that they are saved. So clearly and positively 
is this truth expressed in the Bible that those 
who would be guided by the precepts of that 
Book are ever ready to give prominence to 
the duty of faith as their ground of hope. 

5i 



Mow to Deal witb 9o\xbte 

Yet a clear idea of what faith is, and of 
what it is to have faith, is anything but 
common among Bible readers and seekers 
of peace and rest. Of course, systematic 
theology has done much to mislead and 
confuse those who would know and have 
right ideas of God's teachings. Thus theo- 
logians have told us that there are different 
kinds of faith, — that there is intellectual 
faith, and formal faith, and lifeless faith, 
and, again, that there is saving faith. This 
leads the anxious to wonder what are the 
distinctive characteristics of that kind of 
faith of which prophet and apostle had so 
much to say, and on which Jesus seemed 
to pivot his power to help life-seekers. 

Faith is not a possession or attainment, 
the having of which enables a man to be 
strong, and to have knowledge, and to 
work wonders in his sphere. Faith is an 
attitude of being toward God, a condition 
of mind and spirit that makes one ready to 
accept as sure what God has promised, and 
what God has said he will do. President 

52 



Watting for more ffaltb 

Mark Hopkins once said simply and 
wisely: " There is no conflict between faith 
and reason. Faith is the believing that God 
will do as he has promised. That certainly 
is not unreasonable." Again, good Dr. Bush- 
nell said : " Faith is not a mysterious posses- 
sion, it is a simple act. Faith is that act by 
which one person, a sinner, commits himself 
to another person, a Saviour." 

It is indeed strange that so many per- 
plexed doubters have worried for years 
over the question whether they had enough 
faith, or whether the faith they had was of 
the right sort. While faith, true faith, is so 
reasonable and so simple, one who has for 
years had much to do with perplexed 
doubters has no hesitation in saying that 
no other cause of doubt has been so com- 
mon or so persistent, among those who 
have sought his help, as the lack, or the 
quality, or the relative measure, of faith. 
About the necessity of faith most are 
agreed. About the possession of faith 
there is much doubt. 

S3 



Kow to Deal witb Doubts 

One who had been for years an active 
member of a prominent church, and who 
was at that very time a Sunday-school 
teacher, came to me as one who, as he 
thought, gave evidence of faith, while he 
bemoaned his own lack of it. To me he 
said longingly : 

" I wish I had your faith, my friend." 

" What do you want of my faith ? " was 
the reply. " You'd better have your own 
faith. YouVe nothing more to do with 
my faith than with my pocket-book. Let 
every man have his own faith." 

" Then I'll say I wish I had more faith, 
— more faith of my own." 

" You have got more faith now than you 
are willing to use. What would you do 
with any more? If you've faith as big 
as a grain of mustard-seed, and will use 
it aright, you can uproot big trees and 
mighty mountains, and do other great 
things. Your difficulty is not in being 
without enough faith, but in being unwill- 
ing to use what faith you have. If you 

54 



Waiting for mote tfaitb 

believe one thing that Jesus promises you, 
and are ready to do accordingly, you are 
using a little of your faith. Then you are 
ready to have and to use more faith. Hav- 
ing faith is of no use except as you use it." 

Encouraged to take this view of faith 
and of truth, this doubter came to exer- 
cise faith, and his faith grew accordingly. 
Finally his faith actually evidenced itself 
to the ends of the earth, — while he was an 
active foreign missionary, — and he rejoiced 
in his faith, or in the Saviour on whom it 
rested, and others were thereby benefited. 

For years a seeker after truth and light 
suffered in doubt because she thought she 
had not faith enough, or that the faith she 
had was not of the right sort. She was 
constant in prayer and longing. She was 
ready to do every duty which she knew. 
She studied the Bible for counsel and com- 
fort. She got help at many points, but at 
other points she was met by the injunction 
that even in seeking help from God she 
must ask in unwavering faith, and that re- 

55 



How to 2>eal witb Doubts 

quirement seemed a barrier to her. In 
telling of her troubles to one of whom she 
sought counsel, she stated the case in this 
way: 

" When I found the invitation in James 
i : 5, I thought I was helped: 'If any of 
you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, 
who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth 
not ; and it shall be given him/ That was 
encouraging. The next verses, however, 
staggered me : ' But let him ask in faith, 
nothing doubting : for he that doubteth is 
like the surge of the sea driven by the 
wind and tossed. For let not that man 
think that he shall receive anything of the 
Lord; a doubleminded man, unstable in 
all his ways/ I'm afraid I'm a double- 
minded person. My faith sometimes wavers. 
I wish I could have a faith where there'd 
never be a doubt." 

" Do you mean that you sometimes 
think that Christ is to be trusted, and at 
other times you do not think that he is to 
be depended on ? " That was the question 

56 



OTaitina for more jfaitb 

put to the doubter by the one whose coun- 
sel she sought. 

" No, I never have any doubt about 
Christ. I'm only speaking about my faith 
in Christ. I don't always have the same 
feeling of faith in Christ." 

" Then it is not a matter of your faith, 
but of your personal feeling, that troubles 
you. Your faith depends on what Christ 
is, and what you understand him to be. 
Your feeling on the subject may depend 
on any one of a dozen things. Sometimes 
a walk in the fresh air will change your 
feelings. Sometimes a little soda-mint or 
spirits of ammonia will set things straight 
inside." 

And she was thus shown to be another 
of the many who are needlessly in doubt 
because they confound their feelings about 
faith with faith itself. Faith is indeed im- 
portant, but one's feelings about faith are 
of no importance. 

Another doubter about his faith I visited 
at a time when the doubter was in bereave- 

57 



Wow to Deal witb Doubts 

ment, and when he regretted that he could 
not count himself a child of God. He was 
a man upright in his personal life, a lover 
of the Bible, a constant church attendant. 
He was in the habit of personal prayer, but 
he did not think it would be right for him, 
without faith, to confess Christ as his Sav- 
iour. I sought to induce him to evidence 
faith in confessing Christ before men. 

"I'd like to," he said, "but I have no 
faith in Christ/' 

" Why don't you have faith ? " asked his 
friend. 

" Because it is not in my power to have 
faith." 

" Do you believe that Christ is worthy 
of being loved and obeyed ? " 

" Yes, indeed I do." 

" Then why do you not love and obey 
him ? " 

" I do love him, and I obey him in 
everything except when he tells me to 
have faith. In that one thing I am power- 
less." 

58 



TRUaiting for fllore jfaitb 

" Let us see about that," I said. " Sup- 
pose that this very night you were to know 
there was to be a struggle between the 
friends and the enemies of Jesus, and you 
were told that those who wanted to be 
true to him must line up on the other side 
of the street, while those who were against 
Jesus, or who were in doubt about their 
position, could stay where they were ; what 
would you do ? " 

" I'd go over on the other side of the 
street, where his supporters lined up." 

" Would you do this if it would cost you 
your life, and when you might risk your 
soul ? " 

" Of course I would," he said. 

" That is what Jesus counts faith," said 
his friend, "and standing up to confess 
Christ before men is lining up with his fol- 
lowers on his side of the way." 

And on the next occasion when new 
members were received into our home 
church, I rejoiced to see the long-time 
doubter stand up in line with those who 

59 



Mow to Deal wltb 2)oubt6 

were ready to declare their trust in Christ 
as their Saviour. How many there are 
who have doubt about their faith when 
they have no doubt about their Saviour, 
and who are ready to show this, at any 
risk, in a testing time ! 



60 



VIII 

Uroublefc Because Enjoying 
(Sob's Service 

It may seem strange, but it is neverthe- 
less undeniable, that many Christians have 
been troubled because they were finding 
enjoyment in God's service. They have, in 
fact, been disturbed because they were not 
disturbed; were unhappy, because they 
were happy. And, after all, this is by no 
means to be wondered at, with human 
nature as it is, and with God's grace work- 
ing as it does. But it is an important aspect 
of truth to be considered by one who would 
give help to doubters. 

It is true that it is easier to slip down 
than to clamber up ; more inviting to enter 
the broad and thronged road to death than 
to walk in the less-trod narrow path that 
leads to life. But one who continues to toil 
upward may after a while find enjoyment in 

61 



Mow to 2>eal wttb Doubts 

surmounting obstacles and breathing the 
purer air of the loftier regions. And as 
the years go on there is more true enjoy- 
ment in the strait and narrow way of life 
than in the broad and easy road of death. 
These things are not, however, always 
borne in mind by one who looks at a single 
side of the case. 

Probably the difficulty was more com- 
mon in former days than in these; but 
there are still manifestations of it among 
believers. It is back of the idea of penance 
and self-mortification. Many a man has 
thought he had a better prospect of wear- 
ing a white robe in the next life if he wore 
a haircloth shirt in this. Scourging the 
body with whips has often been undertaken 
as a help to saving the soul. This has 
been practiced not only among heathen 
and idolaters, but among followers of the 
Lord Jesus Christ in the later as well as 
the earlier centuries. 

Within my memory it was a prevalent 
idea that there was a superior sanctity in 

62 



GroubleD 38ecau6e Enjoying <3oD's Service 

a long face and a gloomy expression of 
countenance. Cheerfulness in looks or in 
voice was supposed to be at variance with 
true religious devotion. If one would 
rightly observe the Sabbath, he must avoid 
giving positive evidence of enjoyment or 
happiness between sundown on Saturday 
evening and sundown on Sunday evening. 

So far did this idea extend that many an 
earnest Christian actually believed that true 
enjoyment was inconsistent with a right 
performance of religious duty. Not only 
must a man do right whether he found it 
easy or difficult, pleasant or disagreeable ; 
but to find duty-doing easy and pleasant 
was an indication of a wrong spirit, if, 
indeed, it did not show that he had mis- 
taken the path of duty. 

As a practical consequence of this way 
of looking at duty, many felt that to find 
pleasure in God's service was to throw sus- 
picion on the acts of service which could 
cause pleasure rather than pain. Of two 
lines of effort, one attractive and the other 

63 



Mow to Deal witb Boubte 

repellent, the repellent one was thought to 
be more likely than the other to be right, 
because the human heart inclines to evil 
rather than to good. It may seem strange 
that any intelligent believer could have 
reasoned in this way ; but that many have 
thus reasoned cannot be denied. Hence in 
this case, as in many another, it is the dutv 
of one who would give help to the doubter 
to perceive in what he is most unreason- 
able, and to enable him to see its unreason- 
able side. 

I knew of one instance of this sort 
which is illustrative of many others. A 
prominent Christian worker had begun 
very early in life to walk in the narrow 
path, and to clamber toward the spiritual 
heights. His time, all his powers, and his 
every worldly possession, he counted as a 
trust committed to his charge, to be used 
in God's service. As the years went on he 
came to find most enjoyment in doing what 
he felt God would have him do. Nothing 
else was to be compared with this, in his 

64 



troubled because JEnjoEfns <3oD'a Service 

estimation. And this began to trouble 
him. It was so at variance with much that 
he heard from the pulpit and in the prayer- 
meeting of his day, and that he read in the 
current religious literature, that he ques- 
tioned himself as to the possibility of his 
being on the wrong track in life. As to 
the fact that he really enjoyed life in his 
present course he could have no ques- 
tion. Where was the cause of trouble? 
Coming to me, whom he knew inti- 
mately, he stated the case somewhat in 
this way: 

" For years I have been in the habit of 
giving systematically a regular portion of 
my income. As God has prospered me in 
business affairs, I have for some time had 
quite ample means to dispose of, and I 
have been enjoying this distribution. And 
now the pleasure I find in it is seriously 
troubling me." 

" Have you been guided in your particu- 
lar gifts by the enjoyment you would have, 
or by your sense of duty?" 

65 



Mow to 2>eal wftb Doubts 

" Of course I have tried to do my duty 
in every instance of giving." 

"What has been the nature of your spe- 
cial gifts?" 

" Besides my giving to causes presented 
in our home church, I have helped persons 
whom I knew to be in need. I have 
helped widows and children who required 
assistance. I have given or loaned money 
to students struggling for an education." 

" Have you sought prominence by the 
size of your church donations ? " 

" On the contrary, I have tried to avoid 
that. If I desired to give more than usual 
to a cause on our church list, I would give 
about as much as would be expected of 
me in the regular church collection. Then 
I would send an extra sum anonymously 
to the society direct. In such ways I have 
tried to avoid prominence as a giver." 

" How about the needy and worthy per- 
sons helped by you ; have you given either 
ostentatiously or recklessly ? " 

" I have been as careful as possible about 
66 



troubles because Enjoying Go&'s Service 

that. I have avoided prominence and any 
show of generosity. I have taken the op- 
portunity of quietly lending a hand, as it 
were, to those who needed a helping hand. 
In the case of young students, especially 
those whom I knew desired to be in the 
ministry, I have made a loan rather than a 
gift, so that the student might be more 
independent and self-respecting/' 

" Do you think that your gifts have been 
made for your own reputation or enjoy- 
ment, or in the line of supposed duty and 
at the call of God ? " 

" Of course I have given in each case 
as I thought was in the line of duty, and 
where God would have me give. But I 
am finding such enjoyment in thus giving 
that it disturbs me. Where does the self- 
denial come in? We are told to deny 
ourselves." 

" We have no right to give in order to 
gratify self, or in order to secure selfish en- 
joyment. But do you think there is any 
merit in personal discomfort, or in doing 

67 



Mow to Deal witb Doubts 

what we shrink from, or what we are re- 
luctant to do ? " 

" I confess that I have felt that the best 
doing, and that reluctant doing, were likely 
to go together, if, indeed, they were not 
identical." 

" If that is the way you look at it, and 
there is any reason, or true ground, for 
your feeling as you do, I think I can sug- 
gest a cure for you, or can propose a plan 
that will avoid your present trouble. Sup- 
pose you try this method. 

" When next you learn of a worthy poor 
widow with children, whom you might be 
inclined to help, just quietly refrain from 
giving her of your means, and let her and 
her little ones suffer. And when you know 
of some struggling students who have hard 
work to get on unaided, resolutely abstain 
from doing as you have done hitherto, and 
see that they have no help from you." 

" Oh, I couldn't do that ! " 

" But wouldn't it be harder and more 
discomforting than if you gave ? " 

68 



GroubleD because Enjogtns (SoD's Service 

" Of course it would. ,, 

"Well, there is where the self-denial 
would come in, if the measure of discom- 
fort is the true test of right." 

" I don't really know that it is." 

"Well, I don't even think that it is. 
No, my friend, my idea is, that you'd bet- 
ter do as God would have you do, whether 
you like it or not, whether it is agreeable 
or disagreeable. Why should you be 
troubled while bearing Christ's yoke and 
burden in his service, even if it proves, as 
he promises, that his yoke is easy and his 
burden is light ? " 

" I don't suppose I should, as I now see 
the matter." 

And from seeing the matter in a new 
light, that child of God lived for the rest 
of his life having enjoyment, instead of 
trouble and worry, in giving help to others 
as God enabled him. 



69 



IX 

Gonstfcerfng ©ur ©esires, instead 
of (Bob's Xove 

It is so much easier for us to feel the 
force of what we wish in the light of our 
present conditions and surroundings, than 
it is for us to comprehend what God wills 
in the light of His infinite knowledge and 
boundless love. And it is natural for those 
in the close limitations of humanity to be 
correspondingly unreasonable. Most per- 
sons are readier to judge God for his acts 
as affecting their supposed interests than to 
be judged by God for their actions as re- 
lated to his disclosed purposes for their 
true welfare. 

I was hardly more than a boy when this 
truth was first strongly impressed on me 
by the course and words of a young father 
whom I knew. The young man's wife was 
a lovely Christian woman ; but he had never 

70 



©ur Desires, tnsteafc of (Soft's Xove 

committed himself trustfully to God's guid- 
ance. While reverent toward God in all 
his outward acts, his position was rather 
that of an outside observer of God and 
God's children than of one who desired to 
be one with them. When his first child 
was born he was very happy. When that 
child was taken sick he was very anxious. 
Everything that medical skill and nursing 
could do for the child's recovery was 
secured. The father was even glad to 
have the wife's pastor called in to pray for 
the sick child's recovery. But when, after 
all, the child was taken away by death, 
the grief of the father was extreme; and 
there was bitterness in that grief. 

The father was now childless, — and this 
by the act of God. Instead of being in any 
sense submissive, the bereaved father 
seemed actually angry at God. He did not 
hesitate to say that it would have been a 
small matter to God to spare that child, 
and he had been asked to do so, and had 
refused to grant the request. The loss of 

7i 



Mow to Deal witb Boubts 

that child was a great thing to the father, 
and God knew it would be so. And now 
the father's feelings were well known to 
God, and God could not expect to have the 
bereaved father's support or approval 
thenceforward while that father lived. 

This determined attitude toward, or 
against, God, greatly shocked my young 
mind, as it was the first revelation to 
me of such a state of mind in view of 
God's providential dealings with the chil- 
dren of men. Yet afterwards I found that 
this instance was by no means an isolated 
case. Again and again, as I came to be 
more among men, I found this attitude of 
the human mind existing; and I sought 
to deal with it as it was, instead of wonder- 
ing why it was so. 

One afternoon I was asked, under pe- 
culiar circumstances, to call on a young 
mother who was ill and in trouble. I 
was not acquainted with her, and I was 
told that she did not wish to see me ; yet 
the circumstances as told me were such 

72 



©ur Desires, instead of (SoS's ILove 

that I felt it to be my duty to go with her 
husband, as he told her story and made the 
request for the visit. She had a bright 
young son, who was for some years her 
only child. She had wished he had been 
a daughter. When, after some years, a 
little daughter was born to her, she was 
full of happiness and hope. But in a 
few weeks the babe sickened and died. 
Then she was inconsolable. Neither hus- 
band nor son could give her comfort. She 
had no peace or rest in a Saviour's love. 
It was under these circumstances that I 
had been asked to visit her, and that I 
responded to the call. 

She was unable to rise from her bed, 
and as I, the caller, sat by her bedside, I 
realized that I was unwelcome. Knowing 
her husband and boy, I spoke of them, 
and then said that I was sincerely sorry 
to learn of her great loss. I told of my 
own sorrow when a prisoner of war in a 
South Carolina jail, and the first letter that 
came to me through the lines by flag of 

73 



Mow to 5>eal witb 2)oubts 

truce told of the death of my youngest 
daughter. I couldn't go to the sorrow- 
ing mother to try to comfort her; nor 
could I even write to her except in a 
brief letter which the prison authorities 
must read before allowing it to pass. 

"That was pretty trying, you will be- 
lieve. So I know how to sympathize with 
you," said I. 

" Yes, that was hard," said the rebellious 
mother. " But was she your only daugh- 
ter?" 

" No, I had two other daughters ; but 
she was my loved baby daughter." 

" But my baby was my only daughter, 
so you see my trial is greater than yours. 
You had your other daughters to love and 
care for. I have none." 

"Your case is a trying one," I said. 
" But where do you think your dear baby 
is now ? " 

" In Heaven," she replied. Every stricken 
mother is glad to believe that truth, how- 
ever she may lack confidence in God's love. 

74 



©ur Desires, instead of 0oD r s Xove 

" Do you suppose she is happy in 
Heaven ? " 

" 1 don't doubt she is." 

" Do you think it tends to make your 
dear baby happier, or gives her pain, to 
know that you are grieving that God has 
taken her to himself, and made her so 
happy because he loves her and loves 
you?" 

At this question the young mother 
turned on her bed with a start, and, look- 
ing at me earnestly, said, " Do you sup- 
pose that my baby now knows anything 
about me and my feelings ? " 

"Why shouldn't she?" I asked. "If 
she is in Heaven, with all the enlarged pos- 
sibilities of that state, loved of God and 
loving God, why shouldn't she have an 
interest in those whom God loves, and to 
whom she is bound by precious and spirit- 
ual ties ? " 

At once the relations of myself and 
the interested mother were on a different 
plane. She was glad to think and talk 

75 



How to Deal wttb Doubts 

about her little one, and its possible con- 
dition in Heaven. The more we talked 
the more comfort the mother found in 
what she still had, in love and hope, with 
her darling in God's presence. At the 
thought that her dear little girl was simply 
away from her for a season, having more 
of happiness and profit than would have 
been possible to her had she remained 
here, the temporary separation could not 
only be borne, but could be seen in a 
bright light. 

When I left, the mother who had had 
no wish for my call asked me to come 
again and continue the conversation. God 
was seen in a new light when his love was 
made prominent even in the event that had 
seemed wholly dark before. I went to that 
home again and again, and the mother and 
the father of the little one in Heaven were 
glad to draw nearer to Him with whom 
their darling was forever in joy. Together 
they soon stood up in the same church 
fold and confessed the Saviour of their little 

76 



©ur Weeitce, instead of ©oD's love 

one as their Saviour. How much differ- 
ence it makes when we look at God's provi- 
dence in the light of his boundless love, 
instead of in the light of our poorly in- 
formed personal desires ! 

The mistake which that bereaved mother 
made in thinking of her baby daughter 
who had been taken from her when she 
longed to have her grow up in her earthly 
home, is made by many another person 
who prefers to look at every trying provi- 
dence in the light of one's personal wishes, 
instead of in the light of God's bound- 
less and all-seeing love. How common 
it is to want to have God consider us as 
the center around which the universe re- 
volves, instead of our thinking of God as 
the center whose love and dealings we 
should look to as indicating our duty and 
privileges ! Ourselves first, God as con- 
forming to our wishes ; that is the way we 
would have things. 

A Christian woman, who was active 
and useful in Christ's service, had a loved 

77 



Mow to Deal wttb Doubts 

home where were a godly father and a 
saintly mother. The years passed on, and 
precious memories accumulated in that 
home. The present was so delightful, and 
the past was so sacred, that there seemed 
no place for thought of, or longings for, 
anything better, or even anything as good, 
yet to come. Continuance, not change, 
was desired. But in ripe old age father 
and mother passed out of that home into 
endless rest. The devoted daughter in 
maturity of years was called to a new life 
for which she had not made full prepa- 
ration. She missed those to whose com- 
panionship she had been accustomed all 
her life long. This change was a shock to 
her that seemed to break her down, and 
to destroy her faith and her present enjoy- 
ment 

It mattered not in this case that the 
event was one which should have been 
looked for in the ordinary course of nature. 
Reason as well as faith is likely to be lost 
sight of by one who is inclined to complain 

78 



©ur Desires, fnsteaD of (Sob's Xcwe 

of God and God's dealings. Self was the 
center of thought in this case as in many 
another. No way of looking at it seemed 
to lessen the trial of one who would have 
God plan and perform for the personal ease 
and enjoyment of the complainer. Con- 
tentment was out of the question; even 
resignation or submission had no place in 
mind or heart. The stricken one ceased to 
pray. Intercourse seemed to be cut off 
with God, since he had ceased to shape his 
doings according to her personal longings. 
As I had long known this home and 
all its inmates, I earnestly sought to give 
sympathy and help in this time of need. 
But as I talked I found that the main 
thought then was of the home life inter- 
rupted, when God knew that the desire 
was to have it continued. Then I sought 
to turn the thought to the new happi- 
ness of the parents, taken from all the 
trials and toils of earth, and of our reason 
for thankfulness that they were such gain- 
ers, although we had some trials in con- 

79 



Mow to 2)eal witb 5>oubte 

nection with this providence. Thus an- 
other phase of persistent doubting showed 
itself. This was suggestive. 

" Do you doubt that your parents are hap- 
pier now than they could be here? " I asked. 

" No, I do not ; but they would have re- 
mained here longer if the choice had been 
given them, and they knew it would make 
me unhappy to live without them." 

" If they look down on you now in your 
complaining spirit, do you suppose that 
they would be glad, or sorry, that you feel 
as you do ? " 

" I know they would be sorry." 

" Ought you to be willing to make them 
sorry ? or ought you to do what you can to 
increase their joy ? " 

"They understand me well enough to 
know that I couldn't feel otherwise." 

Seeing this persistent way of looking at 
the one side of the case, and knowing of 
the complaining, rebellious, and prayerless 
course of the mourner, I held up another 
thought to be considered. 

80 



©ur JDemce, insteaD of (Sofc's Xove 

" If God were to take you from this life, 
wouldn't you like to join your parents in 
God's presence, and be with them ever- 
more ?" 

" Of course I would." 
"Are you in a state to do so now?" 
" I know they'd be glad to welcome me." 
" Yes ; but they do not open or close the 
doors of Heaven to any soul. That is God's 
work. Are you not now opposing God, 
complaining of God, defying God ? Why 
should God take you where your parents 
are, when you feel toward God as you say 
you do?" 

That was a new thought to the com- 
plaining doubter. Thinking of it a few 
minutes she inquired : 

" How can I feel differently ? " 
"Admit that God has been doing the 
best he could do, even if he has done dif- 
ferently from what you would have pre- 
ferred or advised. Remember that God 
has some rights as well as some power, 
and, if you cannot pray to him gratefully, 

81 



Wow to Deal witb Doubts 

at least go to him submissively, and tell 
him that you want to conform yourself to 
his known will, and to come into a state 
that will fit you to be like your parents as 
you knew them while they were here, and 
as he knows them where they now are. 

" Such a course, you may be sure, would 
be approved by your parents, whom you 
say you do love, and by God, whom they 
love, and whom you ought to love more 
than you do. Any other course is an- 
tagonism to your father and mother, and to 
their and your God." 

After talking this view of the case over, 
it was admitted that it was a proper view. 
And when once the thoughts were turned 
from self as the center to God as the only 
true center, it was a simple matter to learn 
that light is better than darkness, love is 
better than discord, right is better than 
wrong ; and that what we ought to do is 
better than what we are sometimes tempted 
to do. 



82 



Us Xacft of TObt Reeling a Barrier 
to IRiQbt Hction? 

Men who know their duty, and who fail 
to do it, often console themselves with the 
idea that they will at least not claim to be 
on the right side when they are not there 
in reality. They think that right feeling 
is more important than right action, and if 
they do not have the first, it is only an 
added evil for them to attempt the second. 
They make the great mistake of supposing 
that hypocrisy is somehow worse than 
bare-faced, defiant villainy; that, unless 
one really is in all things on the right side, 
it is wrong for him to express any sym- 
pathy with those who are there. 

It is a man's duty to show approval of, 
and sympathy with, the right, even if he be 

not ready to act always on that side. The 

other view of the case is, indeed, the mistake 

83 



Mow to Deal wttb Doubts 

of many a person who has been led astray 
in his conduct, while his inner life and heart 
impulses are in the direction of the right. 

A young man who had been well trained 
at home, and who had enjoyed himself in 
Christian life and its activities, was for a 
time in " border life," under evil influences 
in a community of reckless wrong-doers. 
He yielded to his surroundings, and went 
sadly astray. Then he was again in the 
society of Christian people, where religious 
life was prominent and, in a sense, popular. 
The young man was naturally drawn to- 
wards this better life, so like that in which 
he had been brought up and in which he 
knew he should be happier. Yet he said 
to himself, when he saw the church-goers 
leaving their homes and going to the house 
of prayer, and was inclined to join them: 

" No; I know I've gone sadly astray, but 
I'm not yet a hypocrite. If I should go to 
church as if I were a church-going man, it 
would seem as if I wanted to pass myself 
off as a well-doer, — which I know I am not. 

84 



IRtQbt Jfeeltna a Harriet to IRiQbt action! 

I must first get myself right, so that I feel 
right ; then it will be time enough for me 
to act as if I were right." 

So that young man, who had been 
trained to both feel right and do right, 
deliberately postponed doing what he ad- 
mitted was in the line of right-doing be- 
cause he had not yet resolved to do right 
and feel right in all things. His clear duty 
to act as if he approved of right-doing was 
neglected, while he hoped that, sometime, 
he would do right. And in this he made 
a sad mistake. 

His mistake in this one thing at this 
testing-time led to similar mistakes on his 
part in many another thing. Even when 
he had broken away from the evil in- 
fluences which led him into more flagrant 
acts of wrong-doing, and sought to con- 
form himself to the limits of well-doing in 
outer conduct, he still thought that it was 
not right to go to the communion service, 
or to a prayer-meeting, or to have a part in 
any religious gathering, while his feelings 

85 



Wow to Deal witb 5)oubts 

were not as they should be. He made his 
personal feelings on the subject the test 
of his duty to begin with, rather than his 
consciousness of the right, in view of God's 
commands and his providential surround- 
ings in the church and the community. 

Then it was that I sought to show him 
his error in giving such prominence to feel- 
ing rather than conduct in his course of 
life. As I talked with him on this subject, 
I asked the young man : 

" Did you never feel very angry with 
somebody who had wronged you — so 
angry that, at the time, you were inclined 
to injure your opponent by harming him 
or by destroying his property ? " 

" Oh, I have felt so at times ! " 

" What was the right course for you to 
pursue — to do what you knew to be right, or 
to do what you felt at the time like doing?'' 

" Of course, I ought to have done right, 
however I felt." 

"Then your feelings were not a safe 
guide for your action at such time?" 

86 



IRigbt JFeeling a Harriet to IRiflbt action! 

" Certainly not my feelings for the time.*' 

" All feelings are for the time. Feelings, 
which are liable to change, are one thing. 
Convictions, which are not fleeting and 
temporary, are another thing." 

At another time I asked the young man : 

" Suppose you were started up from a 
sound sleep in the middle of the night by 
a consciousness of a fire in the house, that 
was liable to destroy the building or to 
cost precious lives, what would be your 
first feeling ? " 

" I might be tempted to go to sleep 
again, or not to heed the first call, for I'm 
a sound sleeper." 

" Which course would be the right one 
for you to pursue — ought you to yield to 
your feelings, or to go against them at the 
cost of comfort or personal safety ? " 

" I ought to get up, of course, whether 
I felt like it or not." 

" I knew you would think so, and in the 
end you would feel so." 

And so in other illustrations : 
87 



Wow to 2>eal witb JDoubte 

" In case of a public election, what ought 
to be your guide of duty, — your personal 
feelings on the subject, or your conscious- 
ness of the way the result would affect the 
community ?" 

" I ought to act in view of the conse- 
quences to others. ,, 

" If a church meeting were to be held for 
the calling of a pastor, or for the taking of 
action on a new mission about to be started, 
and you had a vote, ought you to exercise 
your right of voting, even though you had 
been shrinking from seeming to assume a 
right Christian spirit ? " 

" Claiming a legal right to vote, even in 
the church, is different from claiming to 
have a proper spirit when going to the 
communion table, or attending a prayer- 
meeting." 

" Feeling right is your duty ; but acting 
right is also your duty. If you cannot do 
both, you should do that which you can 
do. In the long run you are more likely 
to feel right by doing right, whether you 



l?fgbt jfeellng a SSarrter to IRtcjbt Action? 

like it or not, than by neglecting your 
known duty until you may feel like do- 
ing it." 

" I think you are right about that. I 
know that when I kept away from church, 
out on the border, I used to feel that I was 
losing ground as I saw the people going 
by me to the church while I was waiting 
to feel right. I was losing in right feeling 
all the time. I am glad to have had this 
talk on the subject. I think it would be 
better to do one's duty, however one feels 
about it" 

Feeling right is a duty, and it ought to 
be attended to. But doing right is also a 
duty, and it has a constant claim on one, 
even if for the time the feelings and im- 
pulses run in the other direction. A man 
ought to feel kindly toward those whom 
he meets and with whom he speaks. But, 
if he cannot feel kindly, he ought at least 
to look and speak kindly without reference 
to his feelings. A man who fails to act on 
this principle makes a sad mistake. 

89 



XI 



TEroublefc Because ffin&tno IQo 
Enjoyment in prater 

An active, earnest, devoted Christian 
worker was disturbed because she did not 
always find enjoyment in prayer. She did 
not intermit nor neglect prayer ; hence her 
state of feeling, or of her lack of feeling, 
was not a result of her failure to be regular 
and faithful in her attention to this duty. 
But when the hour for prayer came she did 
not always heartily welcome it, nor regularly 
and really enjoy its privileges. This was a 
cause of grief to her, and she sincerely 
sought to find the reason for this, and to 
learn what it indicated. She asked herself, 
" Is this a proof of my spiritual decline ? 
Ought I not to be at all times in such an 
attitude of spirit that it would be, not only 
my duty and privilege, but an occasion of 
conscious enjoyment to me, to go to my 

90 



ffinDtuG Hlo Enjoyment in prater 

Father and tell him of my needs and de- 
sires, and confidently to ask his sympathy 
and help ? Would not this be the case if 
I realized my duties and necessities as they 
are, and my Father's love as it is ? " 

In her perplexity of mind over this mat- 
ter, the disciple came with her trouble to 
me for judgment and counsel, and, stating 
the case to me, she asked me to tell her 
frankly if the lack was in her spiritual con- 
dition, and, if so, how it was to be reme- 
died. I, knowing her earnestness of Chris- 
tian character, and seeing her trouble as it 
was, said to her : 

" According to your own statement of 
the case, your trouble is a physical one. 
You say you do not have enough of physi- 
cal feeling about the matter, although you 
have not changed your opinions about 
your duty or privilege. The lack you 
lament is a lack of physical emotion or 
sensitiveness." 

" No, it is not a lack of physical sensi- 
bility that I lament ; it is spiritual sensi- 

9i 



Wow to Deal wttb Doubts 

tiveness that I should have in this matter. 
Prayer is a spiritual exercise." 

" Yes, but you are still in the body, and 
fatigue, exhaustion, and other conditions of 
the body, affect the spirit within the body. 
Being faithful and persistent in prayer is 
one thing, having enjoyment in that exer- 
cise is another thing. One shows the spir- 
itual state, the other shows the physical 
condition. When Jesus was in Gethsem- 
ane, he asked his chosen disciples to watch 
with him while he prayed. But they fell 
asleep, and that more than once. Yet 
Jesus did not count John as lacking in love 
for him. He saw that what might seem to 
be a lowered spiritual tone was really an 
exhausted physical condition, and he said, 
* The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh 
is weak/ While we are in the flesh, the 
conditions of the spirit are affected by the 
conditions and surroundings of the flesh. 
Yet the spirit is lovingly considered by Him 
who knows us as we are. He sees it as it 
is rather than as it seems. And we must 

92 



jftnDfns Hlo 3£njoEment tn ipraget 

try to look at ourselves according to the 
same standard." 

The one whose mind was troubled be- 
cause of her lack of enjoyment in prayer 
seemed to gain from this view of the case. 
As other believers have been similarly 
troubled, there may be a gain through its 
further considering. 

Enjoyment, or a sense of enjoyment, is 
largely dependent on one's physical condi- 
tion. We cannot have a sense, or a con- 
sciousness, of positive enjoyment while in 
excruciating pain, nor while in utter exhaus- 
tion, and unable to frame words or to think 
consecutively. Yet even at such times 
one's spirit can be just as truly faithful and 
devoted and loving as at any other time. 
One may be in spirit at such times as truly 
a good father or mother, or as loving a 
brother or sister or child, or as devoted a 
friend, or as self-sacrificing a patriot, or as 
consecrated a missionary, as while thrilling 
in every nerve with keenest enjoyment of 
the sacred privileges of the relation in which 

93 



IHow to Deal witb S)oubte 

he or she is honored. The spirit of the 
relation is one thing, the sense or con- 
scious feeling of enjoyment in that relation 
is quite another thing. 

This applies to all spheres and practices 
in human life. Even in the primal and 
fundamental necessity of, and desire for, 
food and drink, it is much as it is in the 
higher and more ethereal cravings of our 
nature, — as for human affection and for 
human approval. So soon as a child comes 
to life, it comes to a craving for nourish- 
ment. It must have nourishment because 
it lives, and if it would continue to live. 
An enjoyment in having this craving metis 
as natural to a normal child as is the crav- 
ing itself. And so on as one grows from 
childhood to maturity. But it is often the 
case that one comes to lack the conscious 
desire for food, or the conscious enjoyment 
in the meeting or satisfying of this desire. 
Yet this lack of conscious desire or of en- 
joyment is wholly physical, and in no sense 
spiritual. While I was in full health and 

94 



aftnDing Hlo Enjoyment in prater 

vigor, I had, long years ago, through my 
army experience, and by my prolonged 
travel in desert and woods, come to do 
without a craving for food at regular times. 
In consequence, I could go all day without 
a sense of special desire for food. Yet I 
had the need of, apart from the desire for, 
nourishment. I would grow steadily weak 
from my lack, even while my long training 
had overcome my sense of desire for food 
at regular intervals. I could, in fact, starve 
to death without being hungry. Yet I was 
watchful of my needs and duty, and I took 
nourishment regularly at specified times. 
My lack of desire was a physical lack ; but 
my having a care to take needful food regu- 
larly, and my gratitude for this privilege, 
evidenced so far my good spiritual condition. 
So, again, a loving Christian worker 
whom I knew, whose whole time was given 
to Christ, was by disease incapacitated from 
enjoyment in partaking of food. Each day 
his taking of the needful supply was a season 
of intense pain. He shrank from it ; he suf- 

95 



IHow to 2>eat wttb Doubts 

fered during it ; it was to him only an occa- 
sion of unnatural effort. Yet he persevered 
through all, and this that he might have a 
little more physical strength for added 
spiritual work for his Master and for his 
dear ones. Rarely have I known one who 
showed such high spiritual devotion, in 
taking needful physical food without any 
resultant or incidental enjoyment in connec- 
tion with it, as this noble sufferer. And 
he was but an illustration of the complete 
separation of duty-doing as a spiritual exer- 
cise, and of physical enjoyment in connec- 
tion with that exercise. 

Similarly in the matter of taking needful 
physical exercise in the open air. A will- 
ingness to perform the duty is one thing, 
finding enjoyment in that duty is another 
thing. The two things should not be con- 
founded. A man who in his normal con- 
dition was peculiarly active, and seemed to 
enjoy exercise, had been so weakened by 
an extended illness that in his convales- 
cence he found most pleasure in indoor 

96 



jflnDtng Hlo Enjoyment in ©ta^ct 

occupations. His physician then directed 
him to take exercise out of doors. 

" But, doctor, I have no desire to go 
out," said the patient. " My enjoyment is 
found in my room. I have lost my old 
pleasure in being in the open air." 

" It is not a question as to what you en- 
joy or desire," said the wise physician ; " I 
want you to go out because I think it is 
best for you. You should make the effort 
for your own good, even if it is an unpleas- 
ant effort to you." 

And that case is an illustration of many 
cases in life as life is. The doing of duty is 
one thing, finding enjoyment while doing 
one's duty is quite another thing. Doing 
as duty what one cannot find enjoyment in 
doing is often a test of manhood, and is 
sometimes an evidence of sainthood. In 
one's school studies, and in one's maturest 
exercise of high scholarship, it is often 
necessary to pore over books that one can 
find no enjoyment in. Much of our social 
intercourse has to be with persons in whom 

97 



Mow to Deal witb 2>oubts 

we can find no enjoyment. Indeed, it is 
oftener our duty to do that which we do 
not find pleasure in than that which is in 
itself to our liking. This being the case, 
our true attitude of spirit is better shown 
by our perseverance in duty-doing while 
we lack enjoyment or a sense of pleasure 
in a given occupation, than in our doing of 
that in which we find the highest enjoy- 
ment. 

It is true that, if we persevere in right- 
doing while we have no pleasure or en- 
joyment in it, we may come to find added 
enjoyment in that very occupation. But 
that is a result and reward of doing our duty 
while we found no pleasure in such doing. 
We should not be disturbed because we do 
not have the full result of our best duty- 
doing at the beginning, or all the way along 
in our progress. 



9 8 



XII 

TUnaMe to Relieve in fllltracles 

As a general thing, a man who says he 
does not believe in miracles has no well de- 
fined idea of what he is talking about. He 
does not know just what he does believe, 
or just what he does not believe, in that 
sphere. Ordinarily he is simply express- 
ing an inclination to doubt something that 
he does not understand, without having 
fixed in his own mind the limits of the be- 
lief or of the unbelief he is talking about. 
Many a Bible reader of to-day seems to be 
as poorly informed in this matter as Bishop 
Colenso or as Ernest Renan, both of whom, 
in their books of unbelief, made blunders 
in referring to the claims and statements of 
the Bible text that would be unworthy of 
the average pupil in the junior department 
of a well-conducted Sunday-school. To 
say that one does not believe in miracles is 



Mow to Deal witb Doubts 

to suggest that the doubter lacks an under- 
standing of himself, and of what he is talk- 
ing about. 

One of these doubters said to me as a 
probable believer : 

"I value the Bible for the truths it 
teaches, and for its wise counsel as to im- 
portant duties. But I am free to say that 
I do not believe in the Bible stories of 
miracles. I count those as Oriental fic- 
tions, not to be taken as reasonable fact." 

" Do you refer to any particular narra- 
tion in the Bible as incredible, or are you 
making a general statement?" 

" I mean that I do not believe in such a 
thing as a miracle. I believe that all things 
are within the course of the known laws of 
nature. Any event claimed as outside of 
the laws of nature is not to be accepted as 
true. I cannot believe it." 

" Then you do not believe in any future 
state — any continued existence after this 
life?" 

" Yes, I do believe in that as probable, 
ioo 



THnable to aselteve in miracles 

although yet unproved. But that is in an- 
other realm than this. In another life the 
laws of nature as we now understand them 
may not limit all possibilities. ,, 

"Then you are willing to admit that 
there may be in the universe possibilities 
beyond what we now call the laws of 
nature ? But you are confident that God 
never permitted any child of his, whether 
Moses, or Joshua, or Elisha, or even Jesus, 
to exert any power in God's service except 
within the limits of nature's forces as we 
perceive them. Is that what I understand 
to be your claim ?" 

" In a sense, that is what I believe." 
" Is it not possible that some of God's 
servants of old were familiar with, or were 
directed to act in accordance with, the 
workings of natural forces, in ways that 
seemed wonderful or more than natural to 
observers of then, yet which are well un- 
derstood to-day in the light of modern re- 
search and of scientific discoveries? For 
example, the crossing of the Red Sea by 

IOI 



IHow to Deal witb Doubts 

the Israelites ; the overthrow of the walls 
of Jericho by the marching host ; the going 
forward or backward of the shadow on the 
dial in the days of Hezekiah — as explained 
by Professor R. A. Proctor; and various 
other Bible wonders." 

" Of course, I am ready to admit that 
any event called a miracle in the Bible 
that is shown in the light of modern dis- 
covery to have been within the scope of the 
laws of nature can be accepted as true. 
But those are exceptional cases. What I 
disbelieve are the unnatural or supernatural 
miracles, of which there are so many in the 
Bible narrative." 

"Yet all these miracles which are ex- 
plained to us by modern science had their 
supernatural side or phase shown in the 
Divine directions or interposition given as 
to time or place, which unaided men could 
not have known about." 

" I believe that God often gives to a child 
of his a prompting or guidance that may 
affect his most important interests. Yet 

102 



TUnable to Relieve fn miracles 

these are always in the line of the laws or 
forces of nature." 

" Yes, the Bible miracles differ from 
other Oriental wonders in that the latter are 
unnatural, while the former are simply 
supernatural, — directed from above nature. 
It is in this that the Bible miracles are 
wholly unlike such stories as those in the 
Arabian Nights and other Oriental works. 
The Bible miracles are never unnatural, or 
anti-natural, while they evidence a super- 
natural power, — a power above nature." 

"But I do not think that there is any 
place for a special ' miracle ' in our present 
sphere, when God's ordinary laws are 
operative under his control, and in accord- 
ance with his plans." 

"Are you sure you know what you mean 
when you say 'miracle'? At least three 
different Hebrew and two Greek words 
are in the common version of the Bible 
translated 'miracle/ These words mean 
severally ' a wonder/ ' something wonder- 
ful/ 'an act of power/ 'a sign/ Do you 

103 



IHow to Deal wttb Doubts 

deny or doubt that Moses or Joshua or 
Elijah, or that Jesus, in some cases per- 
formed wonders, or did acts of power, or 
wrought what were signs or tokens of their 
representative character or mission ? " 

" Of course I do not. I have never 
doubted that." 

" Then you do not mean that you deny 
or doubt ail ' miracles' in the strictest 
meaning of the words thus translated in 
the Bible?" 

" I admit that there is an ambiguity as 
to the meaning of the word ' miracle/ as 
ordinarily used." 

" Yes, it is evident that you, like a great 
many other doubters, including Bishop 
Colenso and Ernest Renan, and even men 
who are called scholars and thinkers, and 
who would not want to be called culpably 
careless or ignorant as writers or speakers, 
have used pivotal words with reference to 
important truths that do not mean, or even 
fairly indicate, your views or position as to 
Bible truth." 

104 



Tunable to ffielfeve in miracles 

" But I used the English word ' miracle ;' 
and I intended it to be understood in the 
sense in which that word is commonly, or 
popularly, used. I do not believe in mira- 
cles in the sense of something not to be 
accounted for in the ordinary or established 
workings of the course of nature, and 
claimed to be wrought by the direct exer- 
cise or intervention of divine power. Such 
miracles I cannot believe in, even if they 
are recorded in the Bible. ,, 

" Yet you have said that events recorded 
in the Bible, which seemed at the time to 
be miraculous, and which in the light of 
then you could not have believed, have, in 
the progress of human knowledge, been 
shown to be wholly credible. That you 
still admit." 

" Of course I do. I deny the claim of 
events that are not to be accounted for 
except by a direct interposition of divine 
power, and that obviously are not within 
the established order of nature. Those I 
cannot accept." 

105 



Wow to Deal wttb Doubts 

" If it had been said a few years ago that 
one man had communicated with another 
at a distance on or over the ocean without 
a connecting wire or cable, would that 
have been counted a miracle ? " 

"With our knowledge of then, we should 
have been likely to say that it was claim- 
ing miraculous power, and the fact might 
have been doubted by one who had not 
positive evidence of it." 

" But in our day one has no hesitation 
in believing it." 

" Of course not." 

" Is your claim, then, that your belief as 
to miracles is contingent on your measure 
of personal knowledge, or on evidence that 
is satisfactory to yourself, with an explana- 
tion that will convince you as to the forces 
of nature newly brought in play ? In other 
words, that your measure of belief* in the 
miraculous is a sliding scale, which de- 
pends on your growing progress in ma- 
terial knowledge ? Must you be prepared 
by intellectual attainments for any fresh 

106 



Tunable to JBelicve in miracles 

disclosure of God's goodness or power 
before you can accept as true what is 
claimed by others as a result of science 
or as an act of God's love and power ? " 

"I am -glad to believe that I am con- 
stantly making progress in knowledge and 
faith. I see, in these days, the reasonable- 
ness of many things that our fathers spoke 
of as miraculous!' 

" You admit, then, that your doubt about 
miracles is more indefinite, less surely lim- 
ited, than you counted it in the beginning 
of our conversation; that it has changed 
from time to time in the past ; and that it 
is still liable to change in certain undis- 
closed particulars. ,, 

" Strictly speaking, that may be so as to 
my use of the word. But I say confidently 
that God's course in nature is established ; 
that God does not interpose his special 
power for the benefit of one of his chil- 
dren in the manner suggested by the 
word 'miracle/ or ' miraculous/ In other 
words, I do not believe in special or par- 

107 



Wow to Deal witb ©oubte 

ticular providences as often claimed and 
pressed." 

" It seems unnecessary for us to discuss 
this question any farther. It is pleasant to 
know that you believe as much as you do 
in God's love and power as back of all 
the workings of what we call the estab- 
lished or ordinary forces of nature. Your 
present doubt seems to be one of faith and 
its direction, rather than as to the miracu- 
lous in the sphere of human activities. As 
to that, we differ widely. Not wishing to 
discuss it, I desire to state my own belief 
on the subject, and to leave that before 
you as my testimony as to what God is to 
me, and what he is ready to be to whoever 
trusts him. 

"With God there is neither great nor 
small. His providences, as affecting us, 
are both general and particular. In him 
we live, and move, and have our being. 
We are as dependent on the exercise of 
God's personal power for the next breath 
we draw as are the stars in the courses 

1 08 



Tunable to JSelieve in ttlitacles 

dependent on his keeping in play the great 

forces of the universe. In the Bible, which 

tells of these " miracles " in the line of God's 

plans for his children, God invites us to 

tell him of our needs, and to trust him 

for their full supply. Myriads of trusting 

souls have turned to him in their time of 

need, and have had those promises more 

than made good to them. Of course, God ] r 

employs the forces of the universe when ) 

he would answer the prayers of a child of 

his who in faith asks for help. But God 

is not limited to the self-action of those 

forces. God has at least as much power 

of direction as a telephone operator when 

he uses the force of electricity in sending a 

message to an apothecary for a vial of 

spirits of ammonia for a person who feels 

faint. God can act in particular cases as 

well as in sweeping generalities. He has 

more love and power than has a telegraph 

operator or an electrician. 

" Personally, I will say gratefully, that, 
for more than half a century of experience 

109 



Wow to Deal wttb Doubts 

in the Christian life, I have lived in confi- 
dence in those specific promises, and God 
has never failed me. More surely than the 
most devoted father, the tenderest mother, 
the wisest physician, God has ministered 
to me in supplying me with specific direc- 
tions, often including detailed counsel, not 
to be accounted for by any known law of 
nature, — directions including my personal 
actions and the course of others, affecting 
my life, my health, my business affairs, the 
interests of the community. These were 
not merely remarkable occurrences; they 
were miracles, events out of the known 
order, and wrought by the intervention of 
divine power. As to the continuance of 
this mode of life I have no doubt, while 
God continues to be God, and his children 
continue to need and to trust him. Does 
this sound ' miraculous ' ? I think so." 



no 



XIII 

Slot Believing in Ens Spiritual 
Existence 

Unbelief, or non-faith, is more or less 
sweeping according as a man knows too 
much or too little to rest on and to enjoy 
God's disclosure of his love and wisdom as 
he shows himself in the universe and as he 
has revealed himself in his Word. More 
careful thinkers draw a clear distinction 
between an infidel, a deist, an atheist, a 
materialist, and a modern science-proud 
" agnostic," or confessed " know-nothing " 
in the realm of the greatest certitudes. Or- 
dinary unbelievers or non-believers con- 
tent themselves with asserting that they do 
not believe much of anything, without be- 
ing sure in their own minds what they are 
talking about, or thinking about, in the 
larger realm. Each sort of denier or of 
doubter has to be dealt with as he shows 

in 



How to Deal witb 2>oubt6 

himself, without considering him as one of 
a class. 

Once, while a regimental chaplain, I sat 
in a field hospital, talking with a couple 
of wounded officers. Sitting on the edge 
of the next cot to them was another 
wounded officer, talking with a friend. 
As his back was turned to me, he did 
not know that his words were being heard 
by me. Speaking of the dangers of battle, 
he said confidently: 

"I can't die but once, and when I die 
that's the end of me. All this talk about a 
life after death is sheer nonsense. There's 
nothing of me but what you see here. The 
idea of a spirit existence is absurd." 

The two young officers with whom I 
was talking, hearing this remark, looked at 
each other and at me, as if wondering what 
I would say. I simply shook my head 
sadly, and said as if I meant it: 

"The captain says there's no more to 
him when he dies than there is to a used- 
up mule or a dead hog. He ought to 

112 



Slot Relieving in Bng Spiritual iEitetence 

know himself better than we do. I don't 
know where we could begin an argument 
to show he is mistaken. You and I know 
that there's something more than that to 
us ; and we thank God that there is." 

The argument of the instinctive self- 
consciousness of an immortal spirit showed 
itself in the recoil of those officers from the 
thought of the captain's gross materialism. 
They fairly shuddered with disgust. One 
of them exclaimed : 

" What a thought that is ! " 

The other responded : 

" If the captain should hear that, I think 
he'd be ashamed that he ever said what he 
did." 

And the way was thus opened for an 
earnest talk between myself and the two 
officers on the truth which their own inner 
consciousness made evident, that a man's 
spirit, as apart from his body and mind, 
distinguishes him from the brute creation 
more than does the outer form. 

A man who was exceptionally intelli- 
113 



Wow to Deal witb Doubts 

gent and thoughtful, a university graduate, 
said honestly that he could find no evi- 
dence of the existence of God. He would 
be glad to be convinced to the contrary, 
but all his reading and searching were of 
no avail. He was asked : 

" Are not the evidences of God's exist- 
ence to be seen on every side in the uni- 
verse ? Is not our very confidence in the 
courses of nature, in the changes of the 
seasons, in the laws of growth and decay, 
and in all that we have, or can have, or 
can hope for, an evidence and a proof that 
all is ordered and controlled by a Supreme 
Intelligence or Almighty God ? " 

" Oh ! I believe that we are affected by, 
and are subject to, the courses and the laws 
of nature. No intelligent person can doubt 
that." 

" How can you have any confidence that 
the same system will prevail in nature year 
by year and age by age, unless you believe 
that an Intelligent and Omnipotent God is 
over all ? John Stuart Mill, who began 

114 



Jlot ^Believing in Hn£ Spiritual Existence 

his studies as an atheist, admitted that the 
very term ' laws of nature ' presupposes a 
God over nature. There can be no law 
without a lawgiver. Both making and 
enforcing laws require knowledge and 
power — or Almighty God." 

" That is an anthropomorphic idea. You 
seem to think that the controlling force or 
forces in the universe must be a person or an 
individual, like a mammoth man which you 
call God, but which I speak of impersonally 
as Nature. That is the difference between us." 

" Then you do not see any signs or evi- 
dence of a Supreme Person or God in the 
universe, who is over all, and who has an 
interest in all existing creatures ? You see 
no proof of this ? " 

" I do not. I should be glad if I could, 
but I do not." 

" Does not this show you to be excep- 
tional ? Are you, in this, exceptionally 
strong, or exceptionally weak ? Is it be- 
cause you are above, or below, others in 
your spiritual perceptions ? " 

115 



Wow to Beal witb ©oubte 

" I certainly do not claim that it is a 
proof of my superiority; yet I do not 
think that it is, in itself, an evidence of my 
mental lack. I know that some of the 
world's superior thinkers, and men of un- 
questioned ability and character, have been 
unable to perceive proofs of the existence 
of a God. I simply confess that I am of 
this number. I do not perceive the proofs 
of the existence of God, while I would be 
glad to be thus convinced." 

"As something to aid you in deciding 
whether your failure to perceive evidences 
of God in nature and above nature is a sign 
of your progress or of your backwardness, 
have you considered whether the world, 
in its advances, is toward fuller faith or 
freer doubt?" 

" I suppose that as the world progresses 
men are less likely to accept without good 
reason many of the beliefs of their an- 
cestors as to the unseen and unknown 
world ? In view of that truth, I suppose it 
would hardly be claimed that it shows a 

116 



Hot Relieving in Bns Spiritual Existence 

lack of intelligence to wait for evidence of 
the existence of spiritual beings in another 
sphere, and of an Almighty God above all." 

" Is not the belief in a spiritual being, or 
in spiritual beings, which are above and 
beyond sight and sense, as general in our 
race as the belief in those things that are 
disclosed to us by our senses?" 

" I would hardly admit that. While 
mankind generally inclines to the idea that 
there are spirits unseen to be placated or 
invoked, there have always been those 
among the more intelligent of our race who 
would not admit that the fancies of super- 
stition, or the proposal to solve in a certain 
way the mysteries of the unseen and un- 
known spheres, were to be accepted as 
satisfactory." 

" Similarly there have always been indi- 
viduals who were lacking in more or less 
of the five senses which we deem essential 
to highest efficiency in our natural life. But 
even though one like Helen Keller gives 
proof of high capabilities while deaf and 

117 



Wow to Deal witb Doubt* 

blind, this hardly proves that those persons 
are mistaken who have and use their eyes 
and ears. 

" Look at the record of our race in the 
matter of recognizing the existence and 
personality of an Almighty God. There 
has never been a people in any age, or in 
any land, so advanced, or reaching so su- 
perior a plane in intellect and learning, as 
not to have had its best and wisest men 
such believers. Thus with Egypt in its 
glory, with Babylon in its pride, with 
Greece in its palmiest days; with Rome, 
and Arabia, and India, and with other 
of the mightier peoples of earth. So it 
has been with peoples of the least civiliza- 
tion and culture. No people has been 
found so low, or so lacking, as to be with- 
out a prevailing belief in God or gods. 
So we can say that this belief is as wide- 
spread among men as is the use of the 
five senses." 

"But has not non-belief, or doubt, or 
agnosticism, among those of the highest 

118 



Hot JSetieving in ang Spiritual Existence 

intelligence, including some of the foremost 
thinkers and students in the world, in- 
creased, in these later years, with the prog- 
ress of the race ? " 

" Such superior persons as you speak of 
who are doubters, or agnostics, are still as 
exceptional as the deaf and blind Helen 
Kellers of our day. Over against them are 
those of firm belief and of reverent faith, 
the equals of, if not superiors to, and in 
numbers far exceeding, the doubters and 
agnostics. At the close of the nineteenth 
century a larger proportion of the scholars 
and thinkers and wise men of the world 
than at the close of any former century in 
history were firm believers in Almighty God, 
and were rejoicing in their belief. These 
men, who now include eminent scholars, 
great thinkers, foremost scientists, are men 
influential among their fellows. Some of 
these were for years agnostics, but have 
passed through to a higher plane and 
stage. 

" For myself, I can testify to the knowi- 
ng 



THow to Deal wttb Doubts 

edge of, and to the loving help from, God 
day by day and from year to year, for 
nearly half a century. And in this I am 
by no means unique or exceptional ; thou- 
sands upon thousands can testify similarly, 
and their numbers are increasing, both 
actually and relatively, with the progress 
of knowledge and science in the world. 
To me God has long been more real than 
ever was my devoted mother, and readier 
to give me help in little matters and in 
great. No pastor, or physician, or wise 
teacher, has been so sure a guide in any 
special sphere as the Almighty God — my 
spiritual Father and Great Physician and 
ever-present Helper — has ever been ready to 
prove himself in my need and faith. The 
truth is not a matter of spiritual belief. It 
is the realest and most practical truth of my 
every-day life/' 

" In your experience and conviction you 
are certainly to be envied. I wish I had 
such faith." 

" Why, then, do you not have it ? God 
1 20 



Hot Relieving in Sn£ Spiritual Existence 

is ready to give it to you, if you will ask 
it, — if you will take it." 

" But I lack the belief, or the evidences 
that give belief, that such an experience is 
possible to me." 

" You remember, perhaps, the story of 
the atheist, who, turning doubtfully toward 
the light, dropped on his knees, and cried 
out in prayer : " O God, if there be a God, 
save my soul, if IVe got a soul ! " Such a 
prayer God will welcome from one who 
comes unable to pray more confidently, but 
who is ready to receive added light as it is 
given to him. Are you willing to kneel 
with me now in prayer, while I ask help 
from God for you in fresh spiritual knowl- 
edge ? " 

" I am, even though it be in doubt." 

We two knelt side by side. With my 
arm about my friend, I talked with God as 
one who knew God and trusted him fully. 
I spoke of my companion and his need, 
and asked help for him as God saw that 
need and could relieve it. Then I asked 

121 



Wow to Deal witb Doubts 

my doubting companion to speak to God 
for himself, and tell him not what he doubted 
about, but what he would like to attain to or 
to receive. The feeble cry of the doubter 
went up to God ; it was heard ; it was heeded. 
And that was the beginning of a new day 
to that darkened soul. The light that then 
faintly dawned shone more and more unto 
the perfect, or complete, day. He who had 
before had doubts as to the very existence 
of God, came to be not only a firm believer 
himself, but he grew to have power in 
bringing others into the full light and joy 
of God's service and favor. God is ever 
ready to work wonders for and with those 
who come to him in need and desire. 



122 



XIV 

Inconsistency of Cbristian 
2>oubters 

A strange tendency of the human mind 
is to accept readily much that might seem 
most wonderful and contrary to all reason, 
while at the same time rejecting as un- 
worthy of belief, or at all events seriously 
doubting, what is far less wonderful, and 
what is not at variance with the dictates 
of the soundest reason. This unmistakable 
fact is recognized in the telling adage, 
" Many a man who does not believe in a 
God believes in ghosts." 

All of us have known men who reject 
the Bible as a guide of life, or as worthy 
of consideration as the most remarkable 
book in the world, who are disturbed for 
days or weeks when they see for the first 
time in the month the new moon over 
their left shoulder, and who seriously hesi- 

I2 3 



IHow to Deal witb Doubts 

tate to begin any fresh undertaking on Fri- 
day. It is a well-authenticated fact that 
many an unbeliever or declared opponent 
of Christianity is positively affected in his 
life course by the influence of signs and 
omens, and lucky and unlucky days and 
seasons. 

We generally speak of "superstition" 
and " religion " as if they were two entirely 
different forces, affecting entirely different 
classes of persons; but it might be difficult 
for us to draw the line between the two 
forces even as the line exists in our own 
minds. It would be still more difficult for 
us to describe just the sort of persons who 
are influenced by the one force, and not by 
the other. This truth, or the inevitable 
confusion with reference to this truth, 
should be borne in mind in dealing with 
those who evidently have an open mind 
with reference to the Bible and Christian 
truth, yet who seem unable to accept the 
Bible record of some prominent Christian 
truth. It may, in their case, be simply a 

124 



Inconsistency of Cbristfan Doubters 

result of a peculiar working of their mind, 
and another indication of the strange ten- 
dency of human nature. Such persons 
deserve considerate, sympathetic treat- 
ment, in order that they may be helped 
into fuller and clearer light. They do not 
mean to be unreasonable, even though 
they are. 

A young Christian worker came to me, 
one day, with a confession of a doubt, be- 
cause he thought I was always ready to give 
sympathetic counsel to an honest doubter. 
The young worker had been for some time 
prominent in Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation work, and in religious effort among 
university students. He was himself a 
university graduate, and was considering 
the Christian ministry for his life work. 
He had the reputation and the appearance 
of an earnest and devoted Christian man. 
There was nothing that seemed to suggest 
the caviler or the doubter, even when he 
confessed his doubt. It was evident that 
what he believed he believed heartily, and 

125 



Wow to 2>eal wftb Doubts 

that he would be glad to believe more. 
He seemed to be sorry that he had to con- 
fess any doubt. 

After speaking of his manner of life and 
his habits of thought, as if he would have 
it understood that he was not inclined to 
a doubting mood with reference to Bible 
truths, he said, half hesitatingly : 

"The only thing that troubles me in 
the story of Jesus is the narrative of his 
miraculous birth." 

" Do you think there was anything ex- 
ceptional in the life and work and words 
of Jesus ? " I asked. 

" Oh ! I think he was in all things ex- 
ceptional. I don't doubt him. I trust 
myself fully to his guidance, and for my 
salvation. It is only about the circum- 
stances of his birth that I have any doubt." 

" How do you think Jesus compared 
with the people of his generation ? " 

" I think no one was for a moment to be 
compared with him. He was way above 
all men of his day and generation." 

126 



Inconsistency of Christian ©oufcters 

" How do you think it was as to the 
men who had gone before him, the wisest 
and the best and the greatest of them, — 
men like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Solo- 
mon and David and Samuel and Joshua 
and Caleb and Moses, and other leaders 
of thought and action ? " 

" Oh ! I think he was far above them all. 
None of them was to be compared with him. 
I have no doubt on that point. It is, as I 
tell you, only about the matter of his miracu- 
lous birth that I have any doubt. ,, 

" You think, then, that Jesus came into 
this world with the world as it was, and 
drew a new line of being and character 
and conduct in it, setting up here a new 
standard for men, even the best and wisest 
and greatest of men, to imitate and to strive 
to live up to from that time forward ? Do 
you believe that the example and teachings 
of Jesus, his work and his words, had any 
influence over his fellows while he was here 
in this world, and that they have continued 
to have this until the present day ? " 

127 



Bow to Deal witb 2>oubts 

" Yes, I most firmly believe that. I be- 
lieve there was never anything like it. He 
was never equaled or approached. I have 
no doubts on these points. My only doubt, 
as I said to you, is about the story of his 
miraculous birth. ,, 

" You speak of the influence of the work 
and words of Jesus, not to say anything 
about the incitement and the new motive 
and the help furnished in his death and 
resurrection, — what do you think has been 
the result in the lives of those who, since 
his day, have sought to live up to his stan- 
dard? What proportion of his followers 
compare favorably with his example ? " 

" I do not think that any one of them 
could be compared with him. ,, 

" Not even with his example and teach- 
ings and influence before them, and with 
two thousand years of progress and moral 
growth in the world's history ? Not a 
single one of the most progressive pupils 
has come up to the standard of the old- 
time teacher ? " 

128 



Inconsistency of Christian Boubters 

" Not one. Oh ! I tell you, I count 
Jesus all by himself. No one was, or is, 
to be compared with him. ,, 

" Well now, my friend, just look at the 
case as you present it to me. You say 
that you believe that two thousand years 
ago there appeared in this world one who 
was greatly superior to his fellows, one 
who was far above the wisest and the 
greatest and the best who had ever lived 
on earth ; and that during the years of his 
life he was such a teacher and example, 
and had such an influence on his disciples 
and his generation, that the world feels it to 
this day; that he was such a Being that 
you are ready to trust him as a Saviour for 
this life and the next; and that, even with 
all the teachings that he gave for men's 
guidance, and with all the helps that the 
church which he organized has set at work 
for good in the passing centuries, not one 
of his followers or imitators has approached 
his standard of spiritual and moral excel- 
lence. You say you believe all this, yet 

129 



ttow to Seal wttb 2>oubt6 

you cannot believe the Bible record that 
there was anything peculiar about his com- 
ing into this world and life. You prefer to 
believe that he was born just like every other 
man in order to be unlike every one who 
ever had been, or who then was, or who 
ever was to be. 

" That belief of yours, my friend, is a 
great deal more difficult than my belief. I 
am glad that my mind isn't subjected to 
such a test as yours is. Believing what 
you and I believe as to the utterly unique 
life and character of Jesus, and of his place 
in the universe, it seems to me most reason- 
able to suppose that there was something 
peculiar in the coming of such a being into 
this world; and it would seem most un- 
reasonable to suppose that he was born 
into this world just like an ordinary man. 
Don't you yourself think so ? " 

" Yes, I do, when I look at it in that 
light/' said the doubter. 

And it will often be found, with many 
another doubter of some point of Christian 

130 



Inconsistency of Cbrfstfan Doubters 

truth, that he fully accepts and firmly be- 
lieves more wonderful things than that 
which he doubts; and that his accepted 
beliefs are more reasonable, if taken with 
the one which he doubts, than without it. 
Christianity is more consistent with itself 
than would be any substitute for it accord- 
ing to our f&ncies or preferences. 

Christianity is more reasonable than are 
the beliefs of those who deny or doubt its 
claims. This is true as to the more promi- 
nent unbelievers and scoffers. It is also 
likely to be the case with the doubts of 
honest Christians who have troubles with 
particular points of belief. They are almost 
sure to be ready to accept without a ques- 
tion truths that are less in accordance with 
reason than that which troubles them. In 
view of this truth, it is well that one who 
would help honest doubters should bring 
out by his questions this phase of their un- 
reasonableness. It is not too close an ad- 
herence to reason, but a lack of it, that 
multiplies doubters in the world. 

131 






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